


Heaven Can't Help A Teenage Witch

by flowercrownclem



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: A Few Vauge References to The Craft, Alternate Universe - High School, Ash - Freeform, Cis Female Ashton Irwin, Cis Female Calum Hood, Cis Female Luke Hemmings, F/F, Girl SOS, Growing Up Together, Hurt/Comfort, Mikey Clifford, Original Character(s), Revenge, Rumors, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Title from the EELS Song, Witchcraft, but nothing graphic, cal - Freeform, cis female michael clifford, hexes, sexuality questioning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-22 10:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8283382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowercrownclem/pseuds/flowercrownclem
Summary: Luke has heard rumors about Mikey Clifford since kindergarten but had never talked to the other girl until Luke became the subject of rumors herself. “You wanna put a hex on him?”“A what?” Luke frowned.“A hex,” Mikey clarified. “Like a curse. Magic, you know?”“Is that,” Luke asked cautiously, “a thing you do?”A witchy all-girl AU with revenge and magic and strong female friendship.





	1. Thyme

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter has some slightly non-con type stuff in it and there's nothing graphic and, like, nothing really /happens/ but this is a warning just in case you're super sensitive to stuff like that*

**Thyme** : Courage, healing, cleansing. Said to be derived from tears.

        Everyone knew about Mikey Clifford, but no one actually _knew_ her. Luke remembered kids talking about the other girl all the way back to kindergarten, and the tone of distaste they used hadn’t changed much. In kindergarten nobody wanted to play with her because all Mikey wanted to play was vampires and all she wanted to talk about was some weird Japanese horror anime she was obsessed with, and the rumors just spread naturally from there. In third grade they said she was stupid because she’d fall asleep in class, in middle school Ashley Brown said that Mikey’d tried to kiss her behind the gym and they started calling her a dyke, which changed to “dyke whore” their sophomore year when Brett Anthony said she’d offered to blow him for twenty dollars and a stick of gum. That whole time there had also been half-joking rumors that she was a witch, fueled by Mikey’s eighth grade dabbling in black lipstick and black hair dye.

        Each year a new rumor about Mikey Clifford would circulate and Luke was always torn between ignoring the rumors and asking for more details. She’d always been curious about the shorter girl because it seemed like she knew so much but so little about her. They’d been in the same class for twelve years at that point and she’d never said more than what was required for a group project to her. And yet, she knew Mikey’s favorite brand of spearmint gum and had memorized the way she’d tug at the ends of her overly dyed hair when she was concentrating in class. When she wasn’t concentrating, Luke knew that she’d always tilt her head towards the window of whatever class they were in and she’d get this tiny little smile on her face like there was something out there that only she could see. Luke knew she spent too much time looking at Mikey Clifford, but sometimes she’d catch the other girl looking at her, too. When that happened Luke always looked down at her desk or back to the teacher, and she could always see Mikey’s smirk out of the corner of her eye.

        But Luke would never talk to Mikey Clifford. In their world Mikey Clifford equated social suicide and Luke was just building up a social life worth living. Luke was never too bad off, having long blonde hair and an athletic build. Even though she hadn’t played on the soccer team since freshman year, the other girls on the team still let her sit with them at lunch and she still got invited to their parties. She wasn’t exactly popular but she got by.

        That was until two months ago when linebacker of the school’s football team had taken an interest in her. Apparently Brett Anthony had moved on from being propositioned by Mikey Clifford quite well. After a month of trying to persuade her, Luke had given into a date and then another after that and before she knew it she was sitting with the football team and the cheerleaders every day at lunch. The cheerleaders were nice enough to her but they were pretty in an intimidating way that made Luke feel like they might not be the same species. They had a way of flirting easily and giggling freely that she had never been able to do and she found herself talking more to the football players. She had grown up watching football with her brothers but she thought she would have been watching it even without them. She wasn’t an expert on it but there was something intriguing about all of the carefully practiced moves suddenly being executed in real time, the calculations and planning making every move perfect but the chaos of the game making every second unpredictable.

        At least it gave her something to talk about during hours and hours of school lunches and group dates. In the month or so that she and Brett had been dating they’d only been alone a couple of times because apparently he never went anywhere without an entourage of his teammates and their own dates. Luke was okay with that, though. She thought Brett was okay but whenever they were left alone conversation seemed to fall flat. He was nice to her though, so she wanted to give him a chance. He was always crass and rowdy when he was with his teammates, but when he looked at her his expression would go soft and he’d whisper compliments in her ear. She liked how that made her feel.

 

        Olivia Lee had a party at her house every time her parents were out of town, which was apparently almost every weekend from what Luke had heard around school. Although there seemed to be an open invitation extended to the whole school, Luke had never been to one of the parties, because she didn’t know anyone who went to an Olivia Lee party. Now that she was hanging around Brett and his teammates, Olivia’s first post-game party of the season seemed almost mandatory.

        When they walked in, Brett’s arm around her shoulders and the boys high off of their win, Luke was immediately overwhelmed by an overload to all of her senses. The air was thick and heavy with smoke and sweat, the scent of weed and hormones making her nose wrinkle. The lights flashed erratically and the music was blaring so loudly that she could feel the bass in her chest, drowning out her own heartbeat. On every side of her were teenagers grinding against each other, laughing, taking hits and making out. She had already spotted three different people crying and one couple who she was pretty sure were having sex next to a game of beer pong. She couldn’t believe that this kind of party existed outside of teen movies, let alone that these people actually did this on a regular basis.

        Luke usually dressed in dark skinny jeans that she swapped for shorts in the summer, along with old sneakers and simple tops that didn’t fit too tightly, but she had decided to dress up a little bit for the party. She wore a form-fitting dress that Brett had complimented her on the entire drive to Olivia’s house, but she had opted out of heels because she was almost as tall as Brett was when she wore them and she knew he didn’t like that very much. Heels made her feet hurt anyway.

        Brett lead her through the crowd and started pouring drinks. Luke wrinkled her nose at the sharp bitter smell of the drink he handed her, and took a small tentative sip that burned the tip of her tongue and settled in the back of her throat. She didn’t want to give up on drinking it, though, because it gave her something to focus on in the chaos around them. She kept taking little sips of it while Brett slapped his hand across guys’ backs, introducing her as his girlfriend, and she kept sipping at it when he took her onto the dance floor, grinding against her back in a way that could have been sexy if she wanted it to be. After a while it seemed like there were less and less couples dancing around them, but with a slightly foggy brain Luke couldn’t figure out where they’d gone.

        “C’mon,” Brett murmured in her ear, tugging her towards the huge staircase with his hands still on her hips. “We should get up there before all the rooms are taken.”

        Luke didn’t respond, letting him lead her while her mind tried to process his words. As he started up the stairs, dragging her behind him, Luke noticed a girl standing in the corner who she hadn’t expected to see.

        Mikey Clifford was staring at her, her expression saying something that Luke couldn’t understand through the haze of alcohol. Luke slowed down, craning her neck to get a better look at the girl when a group of kids walked between them.

        “Come _on_ ,” Brett said, tugging her up the stairs after him. Luke stumbled, almost hitting her knee on the stair in front her her, but he scooped her up and nearly carried her to the top of the stairs. He lead her along by the hand and started knocking on doors until he finally opened one, pulling her in behind him.

        “This is so pretty,” Luke said dreamily, looking around at the pristine room, decorated like one of the rooms in a home goods catalogue. “Thank you for taking me here.”

        Brett laughed and Luke wasn’t sure why, so she laughed too.

        Suddenly he was kissing her, wrapping her up in his arms and laying her down on the soft, downy bed.

 _This is nice,_ Luke thought. _Kissing is nice._

        He had kissed her before, but this time felt different. This time it felt like he was surrounding her completely, filling up all of her pores and fitting into every empty space. It felt nice to be kissed like that.

        But then the hand that was on her waist started slipping down further. When Luke felt him take a firm grasp of her ass she stiffened. He didn’t seem to notice, or if he did he didn’t mind because he kept kissing her, flexing his fingers and pulling her closer.

        “Wait,” she gasped out, gripping his arm and making him loosen his grip.

        “What?” he asked, frowning.

        “Can’t we just, like, go to sleep?” she asked, nuzzling lightly against his jaw. “I’m so sleepy.”

        “I don’t wanna sleep,” he told her, moving his hand down to her thigh and hitching her leg up over his. “You look so pretty tonight, baby. It’d be a waste to spend the night sleeping.”

        “What do _you_ wanna do?” she asked, giggling sleepily.

        “Y’know...” he grinned, slipping his hand back up her leg, but under her skirt this time.

        Luke sat up, scooting a few inches away from him.

        “I don’t think I really wanna do that tonight,” she shook her head, suddenly not liking this room as much as she did before.

        “C’mon, Luke,” he groaned. “We’ve been dating for _forever_.”

        “We’ve been dating a _month_ ,” she clarified, frowning.

        “Exactly,” he replied. “How much longer were you expecting me to wait?”

        “I- I think I want to go home,” she told him, her throat feeling tight. “Could you drive me home, please?”

        He shrugged, glaring at the wall.

        “I knew I should have given you something stronger,” she heard him mutter under his breath and her heart seemed to stop for a moment.

        Luke couldn’t help the disgust on her face as she stumbled out of the room with angry, scared tears building in her eyes. She hobbled down the stairs, her vision blurry, and pushed past the swirling masses of people until she finally broke out through the front door and onto the front lawn. She took a few deep breaths of the cool midnight air and tried to dampen the light sobs that made her chin tremble and her lungs feel tight.

        Anxiety began growing in her chest when she realized that she had left her ride sitting angry in a room upstairs and there wasn’t anyone else at the party who she knew enough to ask for a ride home. She knew she could call her parents but they would already be asleep and they’d already be mad enough at her for going to the party without having been woken up in the early hours of the morning to come get her.

        Luke was just steeling herself for a long walk home when she heard a voice behind her.

        “Do you need a ride?”

        Luke spun around, almost falling over, and locked eyes with Mikey Clifford.

        “Huh?”

        “Do you need a ride?” Mikey repeated, holding up a set of keys that was looped around one of her fingers.

        “I, um...” Luke trailed off, settling for nodding her head. Mikey walked off without saying anything else, unlocking an old beat up car with a faded red finish and opening the driver’s side door. She looked up at Luke with an expectant expression before getting in. Luke hurried to open the passenger door and clamber into the seat.

        “Here,” Mikey said, handing her an old napkin once they’d pulled onto the road.

        “Thanks,” Luke said, her voice thick. She took the napkin and balled it up, blowing her nose into it and then holding it in her hand.

        “You can just drop it on the floor,” Mikey said, glancing over in the dim light of the car. “The floor’s always covered in shit anyway.”

        Luke didn’t respond, but she let the soiled napkin fall from between her fingers. When she caught her reflection in the side view mirror she could see the wet, smudged makeup under her eyes and the red blotches across her face. She looked like the aftermath of every cliched high school party that had ever been thrown.

        “Where do you live?” Mikey asked.

        Luke told her the address.

        She’d always wondered what it would be like to talk to Mikey Clifford, to ask her questions and finally find out what the girl was really like. But Luke couldn’t think of a single thing to ask the girl now that she had a chance, except maybe “Why?” But it wasn’t the right time. Luke just wanted to sleep, and it didn’t seem like Mikey was going to press her for much more than her address.

        “We’re here,” Mikey said, making Luke jolt up in her seat despite the soft tone she’d used. Luke wasn’t sure if she’d fallen asleep or not but her head had been resting against the cool glass of the window and her eyes had been closed.

        “Thanks,” Luke said, barely above a whisper. She got out, still clumsy from the alcohol, and started towards the front door. She knew that she’d missed her opportunity to talk to Mikey Clifford, and that opportunity didn’t come very often. Logically, it had always been there and Luke could have just walked up and talked to her at any number of times in the past ten years, but she hadn’t. There had always been something stopping her and now, when she was alone in a car with Mikey Clifford herself, she’d only said a couple of words. Luke knew that when she went to school on Monday she’d be back where she started, sitting with nice-enough girls from a soccer team she wasn’t on, sneaking glances at a girl she didn’t know. Except now she’d have Brett to avoid and his teammates to exchange awkward pleasantries with when they passed in the halls.

        Luke was about to step onto her front porch when she heard Mikey’s voice calling from the car.

        “Brett’s an asshole, by the way.” Mikey had rolled down the window and was leaning across the seat. Even in the shadow of the car, Mikey’s eyes seemed to reflect the light from the street lamps, shining green and catlike.

        Luke wasn’t sure how to respond, so she just nodded.

        Mikey opened her mouth like she was going to say something else, but she closed it and gave Luke a firm nod before putting her car back into gear and driving away.

        Luke didn’t move from her place next to the porch until after Mikey’s headlights had faded out of sight.


	2. Hawthorn

**Hawthorn** : Protection from evil, promotes happiness. Burn berries as incense for energy and a change in life.

        The first thing Luke noticed when she walked into school on Monday was the staring. The second was the whispering. Luke was hoping that people wouldn’t talk about what happened at the party, but apparently they were. Luke knew that she and Brett were definitely broken up but it wasn’t like they’d even had a conversation about it, much less a public one. Somehow everyone seemed to know  _ something _ though. Luke ducked her head, trying to get to her locker as quickly as possible and trying to ignore the looks she was getting.

        When Luke finally got to her locker she was met with the reason for every look she’d received since she stepped foot on campus. Plastered across the beat up, graffiti-dotted locker was a blown up photo of Luke, standing in her underwear, with the words “Fat Bitch” scrawled across it in red ink. Luke didn’t even have to think to know who had done it - there was only one boy she’d ever sent a photo like that to, and it was only after weeks of begging for it.

        Brett had been sending her shirtless selfies from the moment he got her number, and had snapchatted the odd picture of his dick (none of which she screenshotted - she wouldn’t even know what to do with the pictures if she had), and kept saying that it wasn’t fair if she didn’t reciprocate. He said that it wasn’t a healthy relationship if they weren’t equal. Somehow Luke had believed him and one night she actually felt good about herself and thought she looked cute in her baby blue lace bra and her light pink panties. The photo caught the blush on her cheeks and the self-conscious downward tilt of her head, but Brett had spent the entire night sending her praises and compliments, saying he didn’t mind the soft bulge of her belly or the lightning bolt-like marks that stretched across her hips. He listed out the things he wanted to do to her and she had blushed, feeling sexy and even pretty for the first time in a long time. She had believed him.

        Now she wished she had never taken the picture, or at least had taken it without showing her face. She walked forward, her face blank, and unlocked her locker, stiffly exchanging her books and feeling the weight of a few dozen eyes on her back. With a small stack of books tucked under her arm, she closed the locker door and walked through the crowd of people, waiting until she was safely in the girl’s bathroom before she let her face fall. She threw her bag and her books down to the floor of the farthest stall and slammed the door shut, collapsing on the toilet seat and burying her face in her hands. She could feel panic bubbling up in her chest as the tears streamed down her face, gasping for breath. She tore off a long strip of toilet paper and held it against her face, trying to mop up the snot and tears that she couldn’t seem to stop.

        She froze when the door opened a few minutes later, wrapping her arms around herself and trying to muffle the shaky sound of her uneven breathing.

        “So it’s a  _ girl _ named Luke?” she heard a voice say. It sounded like a younger girl, maybe a sophomore.

        “Yeah, it’s short for, like, Luca or Lucia or something,” a second voice said.

        “Well, I don’t blame her,” a third, giggly voice added. “Brett Anthony  _ and _ Jason Brownstein? At the same time? Where do I sign up?”

        “Shut up, Bethany,” the second girl laughed. “Did you guys see that picture that’s been going around?”

        There was a pause and Luke figured they must all be nodding.

        “I heard she wouldn’t stop sending them to the team and their girlfriends were getting mad so they had to print one out just to get her to stop,” the third girl, Bethany replied.

        “Don’t you guys feel kind of bad for her?” the first voice asked. “It’s kind of sad.”

        “She’s a slut,” the second girl said and Luke could practically hear the shrug in her voice. “It’s what she gets.”

        When the girls finally left in a cloud of laughter, Luke unlocked her stall, gathered her books, and washed her face in the shitty automatic sink. She was effectively barefaced for the rest of the day, but it was better than having eyeliner running down her cheeks. She cupped her hands under the water and took a few deep sips, waiting until her eyes didn’t look quite so puffy and red before she made her way to her classes for the day.

        Luke spent the morning with her head down, trying to ignore the bits and pieces of gossip she heard that detailed her apparently extravagant sex life. Nevermind that she’d only ever kissed one boy and it had never gone further than some light groping. Even if she’d kissed a hundred boys and had sex with every one of them, she didn’t see how it was anyone’s business except her own, and maybe the boys’.

        Luke had spent her entire life in school with a relatively invisible existence, not popular enough to be talked about but not unpopular enough to be disliked. She just  _ was _ . But now there were people staring at her and talking about her in every direction.

        By the time the lunch bell rang Luke was exhausted, and headed towards the library without even thinking about the cafeteria. She slumped down at a table in the very back, hidden by book shelves and only getting light from a dusty window high on the wall. She crossed her arms over the table and put her forehead down on top of them, breathing in the faint scent of wood polish and old books. She almost could have fallen asleep, until she heard the chair across from her slide out across the carpet and felt the table shake as someone sat down. Luke slowly lifted her head so that just her eyes peaked out over the barrier of her arms and saw Mikey Clifford sitting casually across from her, wearing the frayed denim jacket that she wore everywhere, even though it looked to be much too big for her.

        “‘Sup?” Mikey asked, her eyes still on the book in front of her, flipping the page airily.

        Luke was caught off guard by the other girl’s nonchalance, letting out a short stream of rather hysteric sounding laughter. Mikey looked up from her book, a small smirk playing at her lips.

        “‘’Sup?’” she asked, her chin still resting on her arms. “I literally watched my entire social life die right in front of me this morning, and you just ask ‘’sup?’ I got propositioned by six different boys just in US History alone, and two of them asked me for a three-way. I don’t know  _ what _ it is about US History that got them all horny but apparently it was something.”

        Now Mikey was laughing too, leaning back in her chair with one hand against her stomach and her green eyes glimmering.

        “What is it about US History that gets them going?” she asked.

        “I just said ‘I don’t know’,” Luke told her, trying to think of something witty that might keep the amused and delighted look in Mikey’s eyes. “Maybe they’re so used to violence and sex going hand in hand in movies and video games that now even World War 2 gets them hard.”

        “At least get some standards,” Mikey tisked, shaking her head. “Everyone knows that the Cold War was the sexiest.”

        “Why the Cold War?” Luke asked, biting back a grin.

        “Oh, all that sexual tension,” Mikey replied flippantly. “Fucking  _ tear down _ that wall.”

        Luke laughed loud enough that she had to clap a hand over her mouth and glance around to make sure a librarian wasn’t going to come scold them.

        “I hear you’re the new school slut,” Mikey said once both of their smiles had dimmed. “How’s it feel?”

        “Like shit,” Luke sighed, looking back down to the table.

        “I know you didn’t sleep with him - with either of them,” Mikey told her. “I know it’s not much, but at least not  _ everyone _ believes it.”

        “Thanks,” Luke said, chewing on the inside of her cheek and trying her best not to think about the whole situation.

        “You’ll get used to it after a while,” Mikey said. “You just stop caring.”

        If anyone knew what it was like to have rumors spread about them, it was definitely Mikey Clifford.

        “Are you doing anything Friday night?” Mikey asked suddenly.

        “I was supposed go out with Brett, but...” Luke winced. “I’m free. Why?”

        “You wanna put a hex on him?”

        “A what?” Luke frowned.

        “A hex,” Mikey clarified. “Like a curse. Magic, you know?”

        “Is that,” Luke asked cautiously, “a thing you do?”

        “Sometimes,” Mikey shrugged. “It’s not like they do anything, really. It’s therapeutic though, especially when it feels like there isn’t anything else you can do. At least you get to burn some shit and maybe yell at the sky a little.”

        “So all those rumors about you being a witch..?”

        “Maybe not every rumor’s a total lie,” Mikey laughed. “But it’s not like I’m out there wearing a pointy hat and stirring a cauldron or some shit. It’s just lots of candles and herbs and energy. I dunno, I like it.”

        “It sounds kind of cool,” Luke said.

        “So are you down?” Mikey asked. When Luke nodded she grinned. “Rad. There’s gonna be a dark moon on Friday." 

        “Um, cool?” Luke said.

        “I always do hexes on a dark moon,” Mikey explained. “I can tell you more about it later. Did you bring your lunch? Technically you’re not supposed to eat in here but I always do and the librarian’s never gotten mad.”

        “I usually get something from the cafeteria, but,” Luke shrugged, “I don’t really want to deal with the cafeteria right now.”

        “Here,” Mikey said, reaching into her backpack. “You can share mine today and then if you bring a lunch tomorrow we can eat in here again and you won’t have to go near the cafeteria.”

        “Thanks,” Luke said, “but I can’t take your lunch. That’s yours.”

        “You’ve got to eat,” Mikey told her, already divvying up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a bag of trail mix. “Do you want the apple or the fruit cup?”

        Luke shrugged, so she got the fruit cup.

        The sandwich was on whole grain bread which Luke had never liked, but she accepted the half that Mikey slid over to her anyway because the look that Mikey gave her made her sure that she didn’t have a choice in the matter. She felt bad accepting something she didn’t even like when Mikey could have just eaten it herself but it would be rude to refuse it. She tore off a corner of the sandwich and lifted it to her lips to take a tentative bite, while Mikey was already halfway through hers.

        “This is good!” Luke said in surprise, finding that it was the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich she’d ever eaten.

        “Thanks,” Mikey said proudly, popping the last bite into her mouth. “I always drizzle a little honey over the peanut butter.”

        Luke nodded, taking another bite and not even minding the bread.

        They spent the rest of the lunch period without talking, but it wasn’t awkward. Mikey kept trying to see how loudly she could bite into her apple which made Luke giggle lightly every time, and Luke kept trying to catalogue the way Mikey’s naturally red lips looked dripping with apple juice and twisted into a wild grin.

        Mikey was able to make her bites loud enough that Luke could hear them clearly even with her hands pressed hard against her ears, and Luke was able to see Mikey’s lips clearly even when her eyes were shut tight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thank you for reading the first two chapters of this, and sorry that it starts out a little slow. In the next chapter they start doing witchy stuff and it picks up a little from there. As a forewarning, I've based all of their magic-doing on things that I do and my previous knowledge along with a little bit of extra research on certain things, but I'm not an expert so some things may not be completely correct. I wanted the witchcraft to be real-world realistic, though, so hopefully that comes across.  
> Thank you again for reading and thank you to anyone who's left kudos so far :)


	3. Mandrake

**Mandrake** : Protection, courage. Can increase fertility for women and impotency in men.

       Luke had never been inside of Mikey Clifford’s house, but she’d been outside of it, once.

       She remembered the little half sheets of card-stock that Mikey had handed out to every single person in the first grade, some blankly and some defiantly. When she handed one to Luke her eyes seemed to bore into the blonde girl, big and green and searching. Luke saw a clumsy scrawl of her own name on the back of the paper and wondered briefly if Mikey had written everyone’s names on their cards.

       She flipped the card over, Mikey’s eyes still on her even though she’d moved onto the next person, and saw the purple stars and moons that dotted the edges and spread out into the center of the paper. “You are invited to help us celebrate Mikayla’s 7th birthday on November 20th,” was typed in a dark purple font. There were also times and an address written below that but none of that meant anything to a six year old Luke. All she knew was that Mikey Clifford was having a birthday party and that Luke was invited. She kept the invitation held tight in her left hand throughout the class, rubbing her fingers over the moons and stars.

       By lunchtime the little garbage bin at the back of the room was filled with purple card-stock and Luke knew that nobody in the class was going to be attending Mikey Clifford’s birthday party. Luke frowned, still clutching her own invitation, but when one of her classmates looked her way Luke tucked the paper behind her, hiding it from view. Even at six years old she knew that going to Mikey Clifford’s birthday party was a bad idea. She saw how nobody wanted to play with Mikey and she heard the things they said about her. Luke didn’t want people saying those things about her, but she wanted to go to Mikey’s party. She waited until everyone was filing out for lunch before she shoved the invitation into her backpack, pushing it to the very bottom.

       When her mom found the invitation that night there was no question that she was going and Luke didn’t mention that no one else from the class would be there. She thought that maybe if she was the only one there then no one else would have to know that she went. The morning of the party Luke’s mom brushed out her messy blonde hair and tied a pretty satin bow in it for her. Luke tied a matching bow around the collar of the black cat plushie she’d picked out as a gift for Mikey, having seen one on the cover of a book that Mikey carried around.

       Sitting in the backseat of her mom’s car, the drive to Mikey’s house seemed to take forever. Luke started to worry about what her classmates would think if they found out what she was doing. Whenever they talked about Mikey Luke would get a sick twisting feeling in her stomach and she’d start to feel the way she did whenever she was put in time out. It was a mixture of sad and angry and lonely, and also fear. Luke didn’t want the other kids saying things like that about her, or refusing to play with her the way they did Mikey. By the time they turned onto Mikey’s street it wasn’t a lie when Luke said she didn’t feel good. When her mom tried to convince her to at least go in she insisted that she felt like she would throw up and begged to be taken home. She told her mom she’d give Mikey the present at school on Monday but it had been sitting in the back of her closet for more than ten years now. She was too embarrassed to give it to Mikey at school but it felt wrong to get rid of it, even after all these years.

       Standing in front of Mikey Clifford’s house at seventeen felt pretty similar to how it felt when she was six. She still felt nervous and a little scared, only this time she didn’t have to worry about what her classmates would think - they were already talking about her just like Mikey Clifford so she had nothing to lose, not really. And this time she wanted to go inside even more, no matter how skittish she felt, her palms sweating and her pulse pounding.

       For a few moments after she knocked on the big wooden door at the front of the house Luke found herself wondering if maybe there was a way that she could take back the past weekend, say that the picture of her in her underwear had been photoshopped, and at least take back her seat at the soccer team’s table for the rest of the school year until she graduated. But then Mikey opened the door and all thoughts disappeared from Luke’s mind.

       Mikey had dyed her recently bleached-white hair a vibrant crimson that made her eyes look even greener than usual, the still damp hair dripping down her neck like blood. Her sheer black skirt hung past her knees and clung loosely to her legs like a shadow, but she wore it with an old band t-shirt that made her look effortlessly cool. She smiled and Luke caught herself staring at Mikey’s lips again, wishing she could look like that.

       “Hey,” Mikey grinned, pulling the door open wider and letting Luke step inside. The house was smaller than Luke’s but she liked it. It looked lived in and slightly hectic, with shoes kicked off by the door and piles of mail thrown on the table.

       “Should I...?” Luke looked down to the pile of shoes and Mikey laughed.

       “If you wanna. I don’t care, though. It’s not like a house rule or anything.”

       Luke glanced over to Mikey’s feet, clad in striped socks, and kicked off her sneakers.

       Mikey lead her back through a hallway lined with old wedding pictures and school photos of Mikey and into what must be Mikey’s bedroom. The walls were painted a dark purple, from what Luke could see peeking out between posters of Greenday and the Sex Pistols and All Time Low. The air smelled like vanilla and lavender and some kind of herbs that Luke’s mom always used when she made soup. The smell must have been coming from the wooden dresser that was covered in different colored candles, all dripping down onto the surface of it. Strung up around the room were bunches of dried and drying herbs and flowers that were tied together with ribbons. Mikey sat down on the black bedspread and looked up at Luke expectantly.

       “So what kind of hex do you wanna cast?”

       “Um, I dunno,” Luke shrugged, stepping over more discarded shoes and a few piles of clothes to sit down a few feet away from Mikey on the bed. “I don’t really know what kind of hexes there are to be honest.”

       “Well,” Mikey said, opening a drawer on her bedside table and pulling out a beat up old notebook. “There’s your general bad-luck kind of hexes, or there’s the more specific ones to target certain parts of his life or certain... _Body_ parts.”

       Mikey winked at the last part, making Luke blush.

       “How about we start with something a little more general?” Mikey asked, flipping through the book.

       Luke nodded, leaning over to try and catch a glimpse of the messy black handwriting and doodled stars that filled the book.

       “I think this vinegar hex should do the trick,” Mikey said, holding out an open page that Luke skimmed over quickly.

       “We’ll need a picture of him,” Mikey told her, kneeling down to the floor and pulling an old yearbook out from under her bed. She quickly turned to a page with Brett’s picture from the year before and Luke noticed that there were a few pictures already cut from the book.

       “Already used this one for a few spells?” Luke asked while Mikey reached over to her desk for a pair of scissors.

       “A couple,” Mikey shrugged, looking a bit guilty. With a few snips she was holding a miniaturized version of Brett.

       “We should probably black out the picture on the back,” Mikey mused, examining the other side of the glossy paper. “We wouldn’t want, um, actually I have no idea who this kid is, but we wouldn’t want him to get the effects of the hex instead of Brett.”

       She took a black sharpie and scribbled over the unnamed boy’s face, protecting him from the spell. She grabbed an empty mason jar off of the dresser with all the candles, thinking for a moment before grabbing a couple of red candles and turning back to Luke.

       “You brought something of his, right?”

       “Yeah,” Luke nodded, pulling a gray hoodie out of her bag. “He left this at my house a while ago.”

       Mikey lead her out to the kitchen, setting the jar, picture and candles on the counter and pulling open a cabinet over her head. Luke leaned back against the counter, holding the hoodie at her side and glancing down at the strip of pale skin that was revealed above Mikey’s skirt when the girl reached up for a bottle of vinegar.

       “Put the picture at the bottom of the jar, yeah? And cut a little piece of his jacket off to put in there too,” Mikey said, setting the opened bottle down beside the other supplies and starting to light the candles.

       “Why red?” Luke asked.

       “Power,” Mikey grinned, tucking her fiery hair behind her ear. “Colors have meanings and uses and you can use different candle colors for different spells. I like coordinating my hair with those, too, but sometimes just the color’s enough for me. Like it makes me feel a certain way, you know? Anyway, red’s for power, and war and strength and all kinds of other things but those seem the most relevant right now. The same color can have different meanings and uses, too, depending on what you need it for.”

       Mikey took the jar from Luke and poured in enough vinegar to cover the picture and the fabric scrap so that they were floating freely in the jar.

       “Try and feel all the anger you’ve got towards him,” Mikey instructed, handing the jar back to Luke. “Close your eyes, too.”

       Luke wrapped her hands around the jar and, after a moment of hesitance, let her eyes slip shut.

       “Try and picture it as a physical thing and imagine it flowing out of your body,” Mikey continued, putting her own hands on the jar. Luke tried to ignore the places that their fingers overlapped. “Imagine it all coming out your fingers and filling up the jar like the vinegar.”

       Luke pictured her anger glowing an orangey red with thick black vines in the center, concentrating in her fingertips and curling up over the lid of the jar.

       “I know it’s stupid, but repeat after me, okay?” Mikey said, and Luke nodded. “Keep focusing that anger, okay? Now,  _ Before the night is over. . . _ ”

       “Before the night is over,” Luke repeated.

       “ _ Before the day is through. . . _ ”

       “Before the day is through.”

       “ _ Whatever you have done to others. . . _ ”

       “Whatever you have done to others.”

       “ _ Will come right back to you.” _

       When Luke had repeated the last line, she opened her eyes to glance up at the red-headed girl.

       “Is that it?” Luke asked.

       “Pretty much,” Mikey shrugged. “Now we just let this guy sit for a little while a let the vinegar start to eat the paper - that’s kind of the point, it makes stuff disintegrate and it’s supposed to do that to his reputation then - and then whenever you want to channel your anger at him again you shake up the jar and you can say the spell again.”

       “Cool,” Luke said, looking at the jar in slight awe.

       Mikey hopped up onto the counter, crossing her legs under her, and gestured for Luke to do the same. Mikey leaned back against the side of the refrigerator while Luke had her back against the wall, the jar next to Luke’s knee and the candles still burning between them.

       “So what exactly did he do?” Mikey asked, and Luke sighed. She’d been wondering when Mikey would ask. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want. That was kind of a personal question, sorry.”

       “It’s fine,” Luke told her. “He just- We went to the party, yeah? And he got me drunk.”

       “I saw that part,” Mikey said, smiling slightly. “You definitely weren’t the most sober person at that party.”

       “Yeah,” Luke agreed, blushing. “Anyway, he took me upstairs and we kissed a bit and I figured it would just be like normal, you know? Like we’d make out for a bit and maybe he’d ask to touch my boobs or something, but it felt different. Like he started groping me and I didn’t like it but he got annoyed and, um, he said he should have given me something else.”

       “What, like-?”

       “Like, something  _ stronger _ . Like...”

       “Oh  _ shit _ ,” Mikey whispered, her eyes burning with the reflection of the dancing flames of the candles. “That  _ fuck! _ Are you okay? Fuck, we’re doing more hexes on him. He deserves to be fucked. By a fucking six foot dildo. With no lube. Straight up the ass. Straight up the fucking dick hole, I don’t know. Are you gonna report him?”

       “For what?” Luke asked, chewing on her lip. “For grabbing my ass while we were dating?”

       “He fucking threatened to date rape you!” Mikey exclaimed, frowning.

       “So? They wouldn’t do anything about it,” Luke reasoned. “Even if he’d gone through with it they probably wouldn’t care. He’s on the football team and according to everyone in the school now, I’m a slut. It would be his word against mine and we both know that his word means a lot more than mine, okay?”

       Mikey just sat there fuming for a moment before her face contorted in disgust. “Oh god, he’s had what, like a thousand girlfriends before you? What if he was like that with all of them?  _ God _ , people like him shouldn’t be allowed around girls. Or anyone, for that matter. I should have followed you guys when you went upstairs. Anyone could see you were just about wasted and I should have-”

       “It’s not your fault,” Luke said, her blue eyes earnest. “It really really wasn’t. I don’t know why you even offered me a ride or why I’m here now. You didn’t have to do that. I probably wouldn’t have, if I were you.”

       “Because you’re better than them,” Mikey said matter-of-factly.

       “No I’m not,” Luke argued. “They’re awful but so am I. They’ve said so many awful things about you, but I never tried to stop them.”

       “But you didn’t believe them,” Mikey replied, still using the same pragmatic tone.

       “I-” Luke broke off, frowning. “Sometimes I did.”

       “You didn’t believe everything, though,” Mikey maintained. “You never looked at me the way that all of them did.”

       “I should have said something,” Luke said softly after a moment.

       “I should have gone up the stairs,” Mikey replied. “How about we call it even?”

       “It doesn’t feel even,” Luke said under her breath, but she accepted Mikey’s handshake when the other girl gave her a pointed look.

       “Now c’mon,” Mikey said, sliding off of the counter. “Let’s go put on some angry grrrl music and make his dick soft for the rest of his life.”

       Luke followed Mikey back to her room where the other girl went straight to the record player in the corner, pulling out a record with a black and white cover that she slid out and put on the turntable.

       “I think vinyl’s better for spells,” Mikey explained, setting the needle down on the outer edge of the record. “There’s more intent to it than an mp3.”

       There was a light scratching sound that filled the air for the few seconds before the needle hit the first grooves and Mikey turned the volume knob all the way up, pushing the window above the record player open as the first screeching notes rang out through the room.

       “ _ We’re Bikini Kill and we want revolution! Girl-style! Now! _ ” a girl screamed while Mikey grabbed black and yellow candles and another jar of something from her dresser. Unable to hear anything over the loud music, Luke followed Mikey back out through the kitchen, grabbing the gray hoodie when Mikey nodded to it. Mikey lead her out the backdoor to the backyard where they could hear the music clearly, pouring out through Mikey’s open window.

       Mikey crouched down to the ground and started placing the candles around in a loose circle shape. She took the hoodie from Luke and set it in the center of the circle and opened the jar, dipping her fingers into the water inside and letting it drip around the circle.

       “Rose water,” Mikey said, sending Luke a quick glance over her shoulder. “Protection from evil.”

       “ _ I call upon the elements of the East, guardians of the wind, protect this circle, _ ” Mikey tilted her face up towards the moonless sky, sounding as though she were reciting a poem but asking a question, shouting to be heard clearly over the music. A light breeze seemed to whisper through the trees, playing along with the music and making the candle flames flicker wildly. “ _ I call upon the elements of the South, guardians of fire, protect this circle! I call upon the elements of the West, guardians of water, protect this circle! I call upon the elements of the North, guardians of the earth, protect this circle!  _ With the guardians of the elements watching over me, I cast this circle. No harmful being can enter. The circle is cast.”

       Mikey sat down cross-legged on one side of the circle and beckoned Luke to sit across from her. Once Luke joined her she took the gray hoodie in hand and tore a long strip of fabric from the bottom of it.

       “Tie this in seven knots, okay?” she said, handing it back to Luke. While Luke tied she concentrated on the music, loud and feral and screeching. There was an anger in it that she wasn’t used to hearing in music, but she liked it. She didn’t know what the girl singing was saying, but somehow she did. Even though she couldn’t understand the lyrics, she could feel them. The girl was mad, and she was tired of being quiet. She was the kind of girl who Luke would probably be afraid of if she met in real life, but she wished she could _be_ her.

       When Luke finished tying all seven knots she gave the fabric back to Mikey.

       “Now we bury this, and he won’t be able to get it up until he comes and unburies it and unties all the knots himself,” Mikey said, grinning wryly.

       “Really?” Luke giggled.

       “I mean maybe,” Mikey shrugged, laughing. “Magic isn’t exactly a science. You’re just asking the universe for a little help and maybe the universe responds.”

       Once they had buried the tied up fabric, Mikey closed the circle.

       She walked around the circle, thanking each of the elements she had called on before, then said, “The ritual is complete, the circle is broken.”

       “Now what?” Luke asked, the candles still flickering around them.

       “I dunno,” Mikey said, looking around at the shadows of her backyard. “Dance?”

       When Luke gave her a slightly incredulous look, she continued.

       “It’s a good way to release energy and to celebrate the mother goddess. C’mon,” Mikey reached out and took Luke’s hands in hers, tugging the other girl to a spot safely away from the burning candles. She begun to swing her hips, forcing Luke to follow with her grip on the blonde’s hands. Mikey’s hips were wider than Luke’s and she found herself comparing them again. Where Mikey was all soft curves, Luke had a strange combination of wide and narrow. Her shoulders were broad but her hips were smaller, giving her a slightly triangular shape that flared back out with thicker thighs and a bigger butt. Her body was great for sports when she had been playing them, but sometimes she couldn’t help but wish she could look more like Mikey, with her more feminine figure.

       “Stop thinking,” Mikey commanded, tugging hard on Luke’s hands so that the taller girl almost fell forward. “You’re thinking too much. Magic isn’t about thinking. It’s about feeling. Feel the music. You hear how angry she sounds? Get angry. It makes you want to jump or stomp or something right? Yeah. Just do it. Don’t think about it. Music is like a spell, okay? It’s all energy.”

       She released Luke’s hands and started bouncing in place, twisting her feet beneath her and bobbing her head up and down. Luke closed her eyes, feeling her heartbeat line up with the harsh drumbeats as her body began to rock back and forth. Somehow they ended up circling around the candles, dancing wildly and unabashedly, laughter spilling out of their mouths and their arms lifted as though they were trying to capture the stars above them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and for the kudos and comments so far!  
> You can find me on tumblr at flower-crown-clem and I've got some reference drawings and things tagged as #hchatw on there :)


	4. Rose

**Rose** : Love, friendship, luck, protection

        School continued on much the same. Kids kept whispering about Luke, and they never stopped whispering about Mikey, but without much more to fuel them the rumors became more mundane. Luke and Mikey spent every lunch period in the back of the library, sharing sandwiches and quiet jokes, away from prying eyes. They started sitting together in the few classes they had together, and smiling at each other when they passed in the halls. A week after they cast their first spell, Luke dropped a pencil in the hallway. When she bent over to pick it up, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and heard laughter all around her. She stood up and whipped around just in time to see one of Brett’s friends miming hip thrusts behind her, his head turned to the side and his mouth open in laughter. Luke felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment and anger, stepping away from him and the small crowd of onlookers.

        “C’mon,” she heard, just as Mikey grabbed her elbow. The shorter girl pulled her into the nearest bathroom, slinging her backpack onto a sink. She shook her head as she dug through the bag, sighing, “I’ve never understood the stupid air-humping thing. It’s so juvenile.”

        “I feel so gross,” Luke mumbled quietly, leaning her back against the sinks. She crossed her arms over her chest and could feel the hot angry tears building up in her eyes. “And stupid. Because I shouldn’t care. But I do, and I hate it. Everything they do, I just feel so fucking _violated_ and _small_ and-”

        “Hey,” Mikey said, coming to stand right in front of Luke so that their noses were nearly touching. She gripped the other girl’s upper arms hard enough to squeeze but not to hurt. “You’re not stupid, okay? They’re stupid. And mean, and immature and horrible. You’re so high above them they can barely see you, okay?”

        Her green eyes bore into Luke’s blue, unwavering.

        Luke nodded minutely, but her lip was still trembling.

        “It just sucks...” she whispered.

        “I know,” Mikey agreed. “It’s complete shit. But high school’s shit, okay? For everyone. All those assholes who say it’s the best years of your life only say that because they peaked when they were seventeen, covered in acne and working a shitty job for minimum wage. You and me? We haven’t even gotten started yet. Every shit day you have in high school is just one fucking amazing day you’re gonna have later, okay?”

        “Okay,” Luke said, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

        “I promise,” Mikey told her, handing Luke a paper towel to blow her nose with. “And you’re not stupid for caring. It just means you’re human. But I can help at least a little with that.”

        When Luke had finished blowing her nose Mikey had her lay her hand down on the sink with her palm facing up. Mikey pulled off the cap of a Sharpie with her teeth and held Luke’s arm in place with her left hand.

        “What are you writing?” Luke asked, trying not to move even though the drag of the marker over her skin tickled.

        “It’s a sigil,” Mikey explained, carefully drawing each line. “It’s like a spell you cast just by drawing it. You can use them in other spells or to channel energy or whatever, but you can draw them on yourself to give an extra little boost. It’s basically just the letters of whatever you need rearranged and put all together so it makes one shape.”

        “That’s cool,” Luke said, trying to see what Mikey’s sigil looked like.

        “There,” Mikey said after a moment, pulling back and putting the cap back on her sharpie.

        “What’s it say?” Luke asked, twisting her arm to try and find the letters in the shape.

        “Guess,” Mikey smiled.

        “Okay, there’s an ‘i’,” Luke said, pointing to the dot above the line. “Um, I think that’s a ‘j’, or a ‘g’? Ooh that’s an ‘e’! And a ‘c’! Um, ‘o’, ‘k’, I think... What does it say?”

        “‘I give no fucks,’” Mikey recited smugly.

        Luke let out a sound somewhere between a gasp and a laugh, but she was smiling so it was probably closer to a laugh.

        “Now whenever you start to feel overwhelmed and freaked out or angry, you’ve got a little reminder that none of it matters,” Mikey told her, rubbing her thumb lightly over the inked skin and making a light smattering of goose bumps prickle across Luke’s arms.

        “Thanks, Mikey,” Luke said, looking down at the sigil. Mikey opened her mouth to say something else, but she stopped when she heard the door to the bathroom opening. Before Luke knew it she had been pulled into the nearest stall, her backpack squished between her and Mikey’s chests as Mikey crowded her in.

        “What are you doing?” she asked in a low voice once Mikey had closed the door and they could hear a group of girls enter the bathroom.

        “Sorry,” Mikey whispered back sheepishly, pressed against the wall of the stall. “I panicked. I hate seeing people in the bathrooms. It’s always awkward.”

        Luke sent her a quick smile, surprised that the great Mikey Clifford would be forced into a cramped bathroom stall just to avoid a couple of disdainful glances in a school bathroom. Luke looked down at Mikey’s beat up old boots, shifting on her own feet while they waited for the girls outside to finish fixing each others hair and gossiping.

        “Well, I saw you getting cosy with Brett Anthony the other night,” one of the girls said wryly, causing a round of giggles. Both Mikey and Luke perked up in the stall, looking at each other while they listened.

        “Yeah, yeah,” another voice laughed. “It wasn’t that exciting.”

        “ _ What? _ ” another girl demanded. “It was  _ Brett Anthony _ . Everything about him is exciting. Did you guys kiss? Did you fuck??”

        “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell,” the girl said smugly, pausing for a moment while the rest of the girls hung in heavy silence. “Okay, so he brought me back to his house-”

        “Ooh!” the other girls chorused, giggling.

        “Yeah, so we made out for a while, and he starts touching my boobs or whatever. Then I take off my shirt, yeah? And he’s looking at my boobs like he found god or something...”

        The other girls all laughed, goading her to continue.

        “Okay so we kept going - ‘cause it’s Brett Fucking Anthony, yeah? You gotta take that opportunity when it comes. You’ve all heard how great he is in bed - and by the time we’re about to do it he’s chubbin’ up and all, but he’s not that hard. Which, yeah okay, like I get it. Just ‘cause he’s a teenage boy doesn’t mean he’s sporting a semi 24/7, right?”

        Luke and Mikey were still staring at each other inside the stall, biting their lips to keep from grinning too much.

        “But I figured I could warm him up, you know. He said something about how I was so hot he probably wouldn’t be able to stop himself from cumming after like two seconds. But I gotta say, I was bouncing on that dick for at least an hour and the boy never got more than half hard. He finally just went down on me so I could cum but when I left he was just jerking off, trying to get something going.”

        Luke and Mikey couldn’t control their laughter, but luckily the girls outside the stall were laughing enough not to notice the two extra voices in the bathroom.

        “I don’t know if every girl he’s slept with had just been lying about his... Abilities, or if he usually takes some Viagra or something, but I don’t blame that one girl for needing to call in a second dick to get her off.”

        Mikey wiggled her eyes suggestively at Luke, who smacked the back of her hand against Mikey’s chest as hard as she could without making a sound.

        “Well, I heard she’s getting off plenty now,” another girl said conspiratorially.

        “Who’s she with?” someone asked eagerly.

        “Haven’t you seen her all over school with Mikey Clifford?” the girl replied.

        “Maybe she was so traumatized by Brett Anthony’s flaccid dick she decided to give up dicks all together.”

        The girls laughed, and even Mikey let out a snort, but Luke could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks. Mikey reached over to tap a finger against the sigil on Luke’s wrist.

        The girls all filed out of the bathroom just before the warning bell rang and Luke and Mikey finally emerged from the stall.

        “So it worked?” Luke asked, a hesitant excitement in her eyes.

        “I mean, we don’t know for sure it was us,” Mikey prefaced. “But maybe the universe decided to listen to us just a little bit.”

        Luke could feel the grin pulling at the corners of her mouth and she released it in full force the second Mikey sent her a smile.

 

        It became a thing then, casting spells together. They weren’t usually hexes, but occasionally a boy would get too handsy with Luke in the halls or would be brave enough to say something cruel directly to her and the pair would wait for a dark moon again. Luke started sleeping over at Mikey’s almost every weekend and any that she didn’t Mikey would spend the night at Luke’s. Luke told her mom that Mikey was her friend because that was simpler than saying “It’s just witchcraft.”

        Mikey kept giving Luke patient explanations for everything she did, magical and otherwise, and Luke was slowly starting to see the picture that every thread in the tapestry that was Mikey Clifford wove together to make. Luke had started carrying around an old notebook that was slowly filling up with spells and sigils and references of what color candle was used for a love spell and what phase of the moon was best suited for a cleansing spell.

        Sometimes she drew pictures of Mikey in the notebook, at the very back where Mikey wouldn’t see. She wasn’t very good at drawing but something about the way that Mikey’s face was shaped like a valentine heart and the way that her hands were so small but could stretch across the frets of her old acoustic guitar made Luke want to try. Sometimes they’d go to one of their houses after school just to do nothing together, and while Mikey read a book or scrolled through her phone or practiced scales that she made sound like songs Luke would bend her knees up in front of her notebook and try her very best to capture even an inch of the girl in front of her. Mikey said that it was good to put pictures of people or things you liked around where you were doing magic because they might make you happier and give you more energy, or you might give them some through the picture. Luke hoped that Mikey might get some of her energy through the drawings, even if they didn’t really look like Mikey until she colored in the hair.

        Mikey had changed her hair from red to pink a couple of weeks after they had cast their first hex, and had left it pink for almost two months. When Luke had asked which power she was trying to gain from pink Mikey smiled wryly and said “Protection of children. You’re awfully helpless and I thought you might need some extra protection.” Luke didn’t believe her. Instead she had pouted and kicked out at Mikey’s leg and in return Mikey had somehow pulled the taller girl into a headlock. The pair ended up tangled together on the ground, their fingers searching for purchase at each others sides and each of them shrieking with laughter. When they finally pulled apart, sweaty and grinning, they hadn’t wanted to move. Instead, they laid out flat on the ground, Mikey’s left leg slung over Luke’s right and Luke’s elbow digging into her ribs, talking about aliens and washing machines and science class and rabbits until they almost could have fallen asleep.

        “Is it weird that I kind of miss him?” Luke asked one night, lying on one end of a couch at Mikey’s house while the other girl laid on the other, their legs tangled in the middle and the end credits of a movie they were too lazy to turn off playing in the background.

        “Miss who?” Mikey asked, flicking her toes against Luke’s ankle.

        “Brett,” Luke said, chewing her lip. “Like, I don’t like him, you know, but I kind of miss him. Or, like, I think I miss him but not really? I don’t want to be with him or even talk to him, but sometimes I almost wish that party had never happened and things were how they used to be. But also I’m kind of glad it did, because otherwise I might not have realized what an asshole he is and, like, I wouldn’t have started doing the magic stuff with you, you know. I don’t know, it’s weird and stupid and I should be glad I don’t have to associate with him at all anymore, but I still feel weird about it sometimes, and I just...”

        “I don’t think that’s weird, or stupid,” Mikey told her. “I think, like... Do you forgive him for all the shit he’s done?”

        “No,” Luke shook her head. “He’s horrible.”

        “But do you wish he’d apologize?” Mikey asked.

        “Yeah, I guess,” Luke shrugged. “It’d be kind of nice to able able to say ‘fuck off’ to him and have it mean something, at least.”

        “I think you still like the idea of him,” Mikey mused, “but not the real thing. Like, you don’t miss  _ him _ , you miss the idea of having a boy like you and want to take you to parties and kiss you - which isn’t a bad thing. Does that make sense?”

        “I think so,” Luke nodded. “It at least makes me feel better than thinking I miss Brett Anthony trying to kiss me.”

        “ _Ew!_ ” Mikey cringed. “Now I’m just thinking about how you’ve actually kissed him. Gross, get out of my house. I can’t have anyone infected by Brett Anthony under this roof.”

        “Hey!” Luke said, acting offended. “I couldn’t help it, okay? I was young and foolish!”

        “Ew, imagine if you’d given your virginity to Brett Fucking Anthony! The stories you could have told in the girl’s bathroom...”

        “You could just have easily have done the same thing,” Luke grinned. “At least you would have gotten twenty dollars and a pack of gum for your troubles.”

        “Shut up,” Mikey groaned. “I’d almost forgotten about that, you know? That’s one of my least favorite rumors those idiots have started about me. Just because I told Brett I wouldn’t sleep with him if we were both abducted by aliens and they tried to force us to breed for science, he had to tell everyone I was coming onto him!”

        “Did you really tell him that?” Luke asked, her head thrown back in laughter.

        “Of course,” Mikey smiled. “Then he told everyone I was a child prostitute with no apparent standards, so I figured we were even.”

        “That must have been really awful,” Luke said softly after a moment, when the situation didn’t seem as funny. “You didn’t deserve that.”

        “Neither did you,” Mikey shrugged.

        “But they’ve been doing it to you since you were a kid,” Luke argued. “They’ve been so awful to you for so long. They’ve only been saying shit about me for a few months and I can barely handle it. Plus, I’ve got you. Who did you have?”

        “I dunno,” Mikey shrugged, training her eyes on the wall behind Luke. The blonde could hear the tightness in Mikey’s voice and it made her heart ache for the other girl. “I had books? And my parents were okay. It was okay.”

        “Shit, Mikey,” Luke frowned, leaning closer to the pink-haired girl. “No it wasn’t. You shouldn’t have had to deal with that, especially not when you were so young.”

        “It’s fine,” Mike shook her head, her voice cracking over the words and her eyes glistening. “It’s whatever.”

        “No it’s not,” Luke said, wrapping her arms around Mikey’s shoulders and pulling the girl against her chest, holding her tight while Mikey rubbed furiously at her eyes with her fists. “It’s not okay what they did and it’s not okay that I didn’t say anything even though I knew it wasn’t right but I can’t go back and change that and I can’t change everything they’ve ever said about you or done to you and I don’t know how to make it better but I wish I did.”

        “You do,” Mikey whispered, her face pressed against Luke’s neck with tears trickling over both of their skin. “Make it better, I mean. It’s b-better when you’re not a-alone.”

        “Well good,” Luke said, tightening her arms around Mikey’s shaking shoulders. “Cause you’re not alone.”

        “I’m sorry,” Mikey sniffled, trying in vain to wipe away her tears. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually...”

        “Shut up,” Luke told her, smiling softly. “ _ This _ is okay. Do you know how many times I’ve cried in the past few months? Go ahead.”

        Luke pulled Mikey back down against her chest and the other girl let her, winding her arms around Luke’s waist and only reaching out once to change the TV to a random late night nature documentary. Luke pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and spread it over them, her fingers carding gently through Mikey’s bleach-damaged hair.

        “Your boobs make a really nice pillow,” Mikey told her, her eyes fixed on the TV with little drops of water still trickling out every time she blinked.

        “Thanks,” Luke said, flicking the top of Mikey’s head before going back to more soothing hair-petting.

        “You’re a good friend,” Mikey said after a few minutes, her breathing having evened out from short gasping breaths to nice slow sleepy ones.

        “We’re friends?” Luke asked, slightly surprised.

        “Of course we’re friends, idiot,” Mikey said, pinching the skin on Luke’s hip hard enough to make the blonde squeal. “Best friends.”

        “I’ve never had a best friend before,” Luke told her.

        “Well now you do.”

        They fell asleep like that, Luke listening to Mikey’s breathing and Mikey listening to Luke’s heartbeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I didn't do a good job of explaining sigils so I posted a picture of the "I give no fucks" sigil on my tumblr in case anyone wants a better visual  
> http://flower-crown-clem.tumblr.com/post/151946297962/the-i-give-no-fucks-sigil-from-heaven-cant-help  
> As always, thank you for reading and/or leaving comments and kudos <3


	5. Mugwort

**Mugwort** : Clairvoyance, psychic dreams, protection. One of the most widely used witch’s herbs.

        “Is it okay if we make a stop on the way home?” Mikey asked one day in her car. She had started driving Luke to and from school because they were usually together anyway, except for every other Thursday when Mikey met with her therapist. “I need to pick up some stuff from the New Age store.”

        “Sure,” Luke nodded. “I’ve never been in there.”

        “It’s cool,” Mikey told her. “They’ve got lots of candles and incense and stuff.”

        A few minutes later when they walked into the tiny little store it was difficult at first to notice anything but candles and incense. The lighting was low and the air was thick with perfume and smoke. As Luke’s eyes adjusted to the light she could see scarves and tapestries draped over every wall, with soaps and salt lamps and little glass jars covering every available surface. There were stacks of little boxes with floral designs that held tarot cards or sticks of incense. Light music played throughout the shop that sounded ancient and futuristic at the same time, and when Luke looked up she saw paintings of stars and planets on the ceiling.

        “Hey, Ash,” Mikey called towards the side of the shop and Luke noticed two girls sitting at a desk. One had very long curly hair the color of honey and was sat behind the desk while the other had short choppy black hair and was sitting on the tabletop. The black-haired one was wearing a plaid skirt and a crisp white button down, but on her feet were beat-up black boots not unlike the ones Mikey always wore.

        “Hey, Mike!” the curly-haired girl grinned. “You already out of that dried myrtle?”

        The girl gave Mikey a quick wink and Mikey blushed, shaking her head.

        “No, I’ve still got some. I need some more mugwort though.”

        As they stepped further into the shop the girl turned her eyes to Luke.

        “Who’s this?” she asked.

        “Ash, Luke. Luke, Ash,” Mikey said, pointing between them each time. “Luke’s my-”

        “You didn’t tell me you finally got a girlfriend!” Ash said excitedly. “Now me and Cal finally have someone to double-date with!”

        “Luke’s not my girlfriend,” Mikey told her firmly, her blush matching Luke’s. “We’re just friends.”

        “Then who’s the myrtle for?” Cal, the girl in the school uniform asked, smirking.

        “No one,” Mikey insisted.

        “What’s myrtle do?” Luke whispered, confused.

        “Um, it’s good luck,” Mikey whispered back. Ash and Cal were both snickering in the background. “You can use it in lots of spells.”

        “What kind of spells, Mikey?” Cal asked, squealing when Ash reached out to squeeze her sides.

        “Protection,” Mikey said, defiantly. “Protection, and, um... Luck.”

        “Well, I wish you luck,” the girl smirked, turning to Luke and holding out her hand. “I’m Cal by the way.”

        “Hi,” Luke said, shaking her hand.

        “Cal goes to St. Benedict’s across town,” Mikey explained. “And Ash graduated from there last year.”

        “I’m glad I don’t have to wear the uniforms anymore,” Ash grinned. “But I still think Cal looks cute in them.”

        “I look cute in everything,” Cal scoffed.

        “Yeah you do, babe.” Ash stood up and leaned over the desk to press a kiss just above the collar of Cal’s shirt.

        “So you two are a couple?” Luke asked while Mikey browsed through the shop.

        “Yeah,” Cal nodded. “Do you have a problem with that?”

        “No,” Luke shook her head. “Of course not. You two are really cute together.”

        “Thanks,” Ash smiled. “So are you and Mikey.”

        “Just friends,” Mikey grumbled from where she was sifting through a bowl of gemstones.

        “Don’t mind Mikey,” Cal said. “She’s sexually frustrated.”

        “Shut the fuck up,” Mikey whined, throwing a ball of organic wool at Cal’s head.

        “Hey, don’t curse in my shop!” Ash reprimanded, throwing the wool back at Mikey. “And don’t throw shit at my girlfriend.”

        Mikey muttered something under her breath but kept browsing. Luke flicked through a box at the front desk that was full of little cards depicting various deities. Each was painted in soft colors and gold paint with a description of the figure on the back. She pulled out one with a woman on the front who seemed to blend into the sky and land behind her, her cloak made of stars and her limbs of trees. The woman seemed to be everything at once and Luke couldn’t help but want to study the picture for hours.

        “That’s the Mother,” Ash said, leaning over Cal to look at the card.

        “What’s she the goddess of?” Luke asked, rubbing her thumb over the smooth paper of the card.

        “Everything,” Ash giggled. “She’s The Mother. She’s the moon, the stars, the earth and the sea. She represents every stage of life, from the maiden to the mother then the crone. She’s playful and ancient and powerful. You can pray to any deity you’d like, but the Mother will kind of cover all the bases. She’s everyone’s mother and she cares about you no matter what.”

        “That’s lovely,” Luke smiled, noticing the faint figures on either side of the Mother, one a young girl and one an old woman.

        “You finished, Mikey?” Ash asked when Mikey joined them again at the counter.

        “Yeah.” Mikey set a little bundle of dried herbs and two little stones, one a translucent pink and the other a sparkling green. Luke went to put the deity card back in the box but Ash stopped her.

        “Keep it,” she smiled, ringing up Mikey’s purchases. “You can put it on your altar.”

        “My altar?” Luke asked, looking to Mikey for an explanation.

        “You know my dresser where I keep all my candles? There’s other stuff there too, and it’s kind of a place to charge your energy and to give offerings to ask for help. You should keep something there to represent each of the elements, too, and you can change up what you decorate it with depending on what you need energy-wise or spell-wise,” Mikey told her.

        “You haven’t set her up with an altar yet?” Ash asked Mikey incredulously. “Every witch needs an altar. It’s a good grounding point. C’mon, Cal.”

        The curly-haired girl and the black-haired girl darted together around the shop, grabbing things and holding them up to each other for confirmation before adding them to a small pile on the front counter. There was a package of small tealight candles with one in each color, a smooth blue-green stone, a little butterfly with wings made of soft white feathers and a round, prickly succulent in a jar barely bigger than Luke’s thumb.

        “Here you are,” Ash smiled, holding up each item as she listed them off for Luke. “Candles have various uses but also represent fire when lit, especially red ones. These will work well enough for now but you should start collecting some bigger ones because these will burn down pretty fast. Aquamarine, to represent the water element. The butterfly’s for air, and the succulent is for earth. Mikey can help you set it all up if you want.”

        “Thanks,” Luke said, looking over everything. “Um, how much do I owe you?”

        “Nothing,” Ash shrugged. “It’s on us.”

        “I can’t take all this for free,” Luke argued.

        “Trust me, it’s like a drug,” Ash laughed. “Before you know it you’ll be in here just as often as Mikey, trying to find every color of candle and every kind of incense. Think of these as free samples, okay?”

        “Okay,” Luke nodded after a moment. “Thank you.”

        “How come you never gave  _ me _ any free samples?” Mikey asked petulantly as Ash bagged up their items.

        “Because we like Luke better than you,” Cal grinned.

        Mikey flipped her off with one hand, taking the brown paper bag from Ash with the other.

        “That’s cause you don’t know Luke,” Mikey said. “Luke sucks. I’m way better than Luke.”

        “Hey!” Luke frowned. “I’m right here!”

        “I know,” Mikey told her, tugging on a loose strand of Luke’s blonde hair. “I was just joking.”

        “ _ You _ suck,” Luke pouted. Ash and Cal were both giggling behind the counter.

        “C’mon, let’s get you home and we can find a place for your altar,” Mikey said, waving goodbye to the other girls.

        “How long have you guys been friends?” Luke asked once they were back at her house, clearing a space on one of the bookshelves in her room.

        “You mean Cal and Ash?” Luke nodded. “I don’t know if I would call us  _ friends _ . I don’t usually talk to them as much as we did today. It’s usually just small-talk.”

        “Then how do they know about your sexual frustration?” Luke teased, grinning.

        “Shut up,” Mikey whined. “I said  _ one _ thing,  _ one _ time about how it’d be nice to have a girlfriend, because they were literally making out on top of the front desk and now they won’t let it go.”

        “So you want a girlfriend?” Luke asked, keeping her eyes on the books in her hands so the question would seem nonchalant. “Like, opposed to a boyfriend?”

        “Yeah,” Mikey shrugged, grabbing another couple of books. “I guess. Does that freak you out?”

        The information certainly made Luke feel some way, but it wasn’t grossed out or offended. It was almost like when she’d just start to feel sort of anxious and her heart would start beating faster and her palms would start sweating and it would kind of feel like she wasn’t controlling her own body. But it wasn’t bad. Not necessarily.

        “No,” Luke shook her head. “It’s just who you like. I don’t care.”

        She did care, a little bit. But she didn’t know why.

        “Have you had a girlfriend before?” she asked.

        She tried to picture what kind of girl Mikey would date. Someone cool and strong and experienced who people would look at just because she was beautiful, not because they were making fun of her. It made Luke’s neck feel hot. Maybe she was getting sick.

        “No,” Mikey snorted. “I’ve never even kissed anyone.”

        “What about Ashley Brown?” Luke asked, looking up from where she had started dusting the now-clear shelf.

        “You really thought I tried to kiss Ashley Brown behind the gym when we were thirteen?” Mikey scoffed.

        “I- no,” Luke shrugged. “I guess not. It was just the first thing that came to mind.”

        “ _ She _ tried to kiss  _ me _ ,” Mikey said, frowning. “I told her I wasn’t gonna be some experiment, especially not when she’d been spreading rumors about me for as long as she could talk. She couldn’t just kiss me to see how it felt and then go back to making fun of me with the rest of them.”

        “Right,” Luke said distantly.

        Now she was picturing Mikey and Ashley Brown together. Ashley was pretty, even if she was mean. Mikey was prettier though.

        “Look, just tell the truth,” Mikey said, pulling the rag out of Luke’s hands and making the blonde look at her in surprise. “It freaks you out, okay? I know it does. You’re acting weird. At least tell me the truth.”

        “I- I am,” Luke told her. “I’m not freaked out, I swear.”

        “Yes you are,” Mikey insisted. “I get it, okay? We’ve slept in the same bed a bunch of times and now you’re worried that I was being creepy about it and, like, I wouldn’t do that, okay? You’re my best friend and I’m not some perv. Can you please just get over it, though?”

        Mikey was talking very fast and Luke could feel herself getting overwhelmed quickly.

        “I’m not freaked out,” she said again, shaking her head. “I’m not.”

        “Then why are you acting so weird?” Mikey demanded, leaning in close enough that Luke could barely see anything other than her.

        “I don’t know,” Luke swore. “I don’t know.”

        Mikey noticed the tears welling up in Luke’s eyes before Luke did, and she frowned.

        “Why are you crying?” she asked, softening.

        “I don’t know,” Luke repeated, still shaking her head. “I don’t want you to hate me.”

        “I don’t hate you, Luke,” Mikey said, reaching up to brush away a stray tear with the pad of her thumb. “I don’t want you to hate me either. I just want to know why you’re so freaked out.”

        Luke felt hot and confused and slightly out of control when she surged forward to press her lips against Mikey’s. She let out a startled sob, covering her mouth with her hand as soon as she pulled away one long second later.

        “Oh,” was all Mikey said, her eyes wide.

        “I’m sorry,” Luke shook her head, panic bubbling up in her chest. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”

        “Luke,” Mikey said, grabbing Luke’s shoulders and making the taller girl look at her, her blue eyes terrified. “Luke, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

        “I’m not- I’m not gay,” Luke insisted.

        “I never said you were,” Mikey said, trying again to wipe some of the tears from the other girl’s cheeks. “But it’s okay if you are, too. But you don’t have to be. You don’t have to be straight, either. You can be whatever, it’s fine.”

        “I don’t know,” Luke said, clutching her hands to her chest. “I don’t  _ know _ .”

        “Shit, you’re shaking,” Mikey frowned, pulling Luke to sit beside her on the bed, letting Luke burrow into her side and wrapping her arms tightly against the blonde. “Luke, calm down, okay? You’re fine. It’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

        “How do you know?” Luke asked timidly from where her face was pressed into the soft skin of Mikey’s neck.

        “Do you think there’s something wrong with  me ?” Mikey asked, rubbing soothing circles over Luke’s spine.

        “No,” Luke shook her head, her nose rubbing against Mikey’s collar and probably leaving a trail of snot.

        “Then why would there be anything wrong with  you ?” Mikey asked.

        “Because I don’t  _ know _ ,” Luke said wetly. “I just feel confused and bad and weird.”

        “Did you like kissing me?” Mikey asked, petting her fingers through Luke’s hair in a way that made her want to go to sleep.

        She hadn’t kissed Mikey long enough to really process it, but if she could do it again she would. From what she had felt, Mikey’s lips were just as soft and nice as they’d always looked and had felt better that Brett’s kisses ever had.

        “I think so,” she whispered.

        “Then what else do you need to know?” Mikey asked. “Just do whatever you like for now and you can figure out the rest later. You don’t need to know everything right now.”

        Mikey kept running her fingers through Luke’s long blonde hair, letting the girl deflate further against her.

        “But you don’t hate me?” Luke asked after a few minutes, when Mikey had almost though Luke might have fallen asleep in the crook of her neck.

        “Why would I hate you?” Mikey replied.

        “Because I kissed you.”

        “Trust me,” Mikey told her. “I’d never hate you for that.”

        “You don’t think I’m weird or gross?”

        “Never,” Mikey shook her head. “Do you know why I did my hair pink, and why I was buying so much myrtle from Ash? Pink and myrtle both represent love.”

        “Like... Like a love spell?” Luke asked, wondering if that was why her head felt so muddled around the pink-haired girl.

        “No, not really,” Mikey smiled. “It doesn’t make anyone feel something they don’t already, it just might help them figure it out a little sooner.”

        “Well it worked,” Luke grumbled softly.

        “Good,” Mikey said, pulling Luke back just enough to press a warm kiss to her forehead that made the other girl blush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so what did you think of this chapter? At first when I wrote this chapter I hated it and I really wanted to rewrite the whole thing but after I reread it and changed a few things I liked it more. What did you think of it?  
> As always, thank you for reading! <3


	6. Valerian

**Valerian** : Love, calming, sleep. Used in love spells and to ease anxiety.

        When Luke woke up a few hours later the sky outside her window was dark and Mikey was kneeling next to the bed, drawing black shapes on the skin of Luke’s inner arm.

        “What are you doing?” Luke asked sleepily.

        “I thought you might need some sigils,” Mikey told her, smiling tentatively.

        “What do these ones mean?” Luke asked, trying to decipher the letters within the figures.

        Mikey handed over her spell notebook, open to a page of sigils that matched the ones running up and down Luke’s arm. Above each shape were phrases like  _ I am valid _ ,  _ I am normal _ ,  _ I am okay _ and, above a more complex looking one,  _ There’s nothing wrong with me _ .

        “When did you design these?” Luke asked, noticing how far back in the notebook they were.

        “A while ago,” Mikey said sheepishly. “I used to draw them in the margins of my notes everyday in class.”

        “Why?” Luke asked, lightly tracing a finger over one of the designs on her arm.

        “Because I needed them,” Mikey shrugged, capping her marker. “I felt confused and mixed up and I wasn’t really sure what I was feeling but I didn’t really have anybody to talk to about it. I didn’t have any friends to talk to and, like, I wasn’t going to go ask my parents why I’d rather kiss a girl than a boy so I was kind of just lost. Then one day I was in the bookstore looking for, like, more manga or whatever and I noticed this bright purple book on the self help shelf and when I pulled it out it was all covered in silver moons and gold stars and I thought it was beautiful. I started flipping through it and there were all these, like, spells and ideas and tips and stories about famous witches and some of them liked girls too and suddenly I didn’t feel so alone and magic wasn’t just a story anymore. Suddenly I had something to do when usually there’s nothing you can do, you know? It didn’t matter if I was really doing  _ anything _ because it felt like I was doing everything. I had a Mother watching over me and sisters I’d never met who were all dancing under the same moon as me and were all, like, praying to the same deities as me. I just felt connected to something, more than I ever had before.

        “That’s why I asked you to come hex Brett Anthony with me,” Mikey continued. “It seemed like you needed something to be connected to, and I kind of wanted to be a part of that connection for you. I told you before, but even when we were kids you just seemed different from them. I know you keep saying that you should have stood up for me or something, but I get why you didn’t. You were scared, and you’re still scared. And it’s okay to be scared. I’m scared of so many fucking things, and I don’t show it usually, but I am. When I asked you to come over I was scared you’d say no, or that you’d leave once you got there. I was scared you were gonna go back to sitting with the soccer team at lunch and that you wouldn’t want to talk to me anymore, or that talking to me at all would end up being, like, a joke or something. But I knew you wouldn’t do that, because you’re you and you’re so good that even the things you don’t like just make me like you more and, like... I don’t even know what I was trying to say in the first place.”

        Mikey laughed, and so did Luke except that hers didn’t really make it out of her mouth and suddenly Luke realized she was crying again, laying on her side in her bed at some odd time of the night with Mikey Clifford kneeling next to her.

        “Why are you telling me all this?” Luke asked quietly, her voice wavering.

        “I dunno,” Mikey shrugged, and when the pink-haired girl wiped roughly at her own eyes Luke realized that she was crying too. “I just wanted you to know that you’re not the only one who’s scared and confused and I wanted you to know how much I like you and how much I’d like to kiss you for real but not right now because I don’t think I want my first real kiss to happen when we’re both crying.”

        They both laughed, making matching snotty noises that made them both laugh harder.

        “Thank you,” Luke smiled, reaching over to take Mikey’s hand at the edge of the bed. Then she stood up, pulling Mikey to sit on the bed while Luke stepped towards her closet. “You remember your birthday party in first grade?”

        “Yeah,” Mikey nodded. “My mom made me invite the whole class even though I told her nobody would come.”

        Luke reached up to the top shelf in her closet and pulled down a little purple card covered in moons and stars. She handed it to Mikey who’s eyes went wide.

        “You kept the invitation all these years?” she asked. “I thought everyone had thrown them away.”

        “You wrote my name on mine,” Luke shrugged. “It felt too personal to throw out. Did you write everyone’s names on them?”

        “No,” Mikey blushed. “Just you. I remember I practiced writing your name first so that I wouldn’t mess up the card.”

        “Why?” Luke giggled.

        “Even then I liked you,” Mikey told her, “even though I’d never really talked to you.”

        “I liked you too, even if you were weird,” Luke smiled, reaching further back on the shelf and pulling out a slightly dusty black cat with a satin ribbon tied around its neck. “Happy birthday, Mikey.”

        Mikey took the cat, cradling it in her lap and looking confusedly at Luke.

        “That was supposed to be your birthday present, in first grade. My mom let me pick it out and I got all dressed up and we even drove to your house but I was too scared and I made my mom take me back home. I always felt too guilty and stupid to admit I had chickened out and give it to you, but I figured that if we’re confessing things I should probably-”

        Luke was cut off by Mikey wrapping her in a tight hug, the stuffed cat clutched safely in her hands behind Luke’s back.

        “Thank you,” Mikey said, her mouth pressed against Luke’s shoulder. “I love it.”

        “It’s like eleven years late,” Luke mumbled. “You don’t even have to keep it if you don’t want. You’re almost eighteen and you probably don’t want a dumb stuffed animal...”

        “Don’t call her dumb!” Mikey pulled back, offended. “ _ You’re _ dumb. She’s perfect and I love her. Ha. _Purr_ -fect!”

        “You’re so lame,” Luke grinned, reaching out to straighten the cat’s bow.

        “She needs a name,” Mikey mused, holding up the toy appraisingly.

        “I picked her out because she looked like the cat on the cover of the book you’d always carry around,” Luke told her.

        “Aw,” Mikey said, her eyes bright. “Kiki’s Delivery Service! I used to watch that movie, like, every day. My mom got me the book and even when I couldn’t really read it I just liked it. Her cat’s Jiji.”

        “So is this one named Jiji?” Luke asked.

        “No, of course not,” Mikey scoffed. “Jiji’s a boy and this one’s a girl.”

        “Because of the bow?” Luke asked.

        “No, boys can wear bows too. She’s just a girl who likes bows. Her name’s Kiki.”

        “Okay,” Luke smiled. “Well I’m glad you like Kiki.”

        “I would die for this cat,” Mikey said, making Luke laugh.

        “Dork.”

 

        They didn’t really talk about the kissing thing after that, but they started holding hands. At lunch they’d hook their feet around each others ankles, or one would lay her head in the others lap demanding for her hair to be played with. Sometimes when Luke started getting nervous Mikey would press her lips against the sigils she’d drawn on the blonde’s wrist rather than use her fingers. Luke started drawing her own sigils on Mikey, some that she explained the meanings of and some that she left jumbled. Those ones were too sappy to admit, but they were true and she wanted to give them to Mikey. They said things like  _ I am loved _ , and  _ I am beautiful _ .

        The first time Mikey took Luke’s hand in the halls at school Luke couldn’t help but tense up. Mikey had rubbed a soothing thumb over the slightly faded sigils she’d drawn the night before and even though it did nothing to stop people from staring, it took a bit of the weight from their eyes off of Luke’s freckled shoulders. When she glanced over, the pink haired girl’s face was blank but her cheeks were a few shades rosier than they usually were and Luke knew that she wasn’t the only one who was nervous. Mikey worried more and more that Luke would pull away with every step but the blonde’s grip only tightened.

        Luke never wanted to stop holding Mikey’s hand, even if she still wasn’t sure what everything she felt for the other girl meant, she knew that holding Mikey’s small, lily-white hand in her own felt better than anything she could think of. Mikey’s fingers were shorter and just a bit thicker than her own but they fit between hers perfectly and Luke was always mesmerized by the shift from soft to rough when she ran her fingertips over Mikey’s calluses. Mikey told her they were from playing guitar and that they helped it not to hurt when the strings pressed against her fingers and Luke had pressed a soft kiss to each one.

        “What are you doing?” Mikey had asked, giggling lightly at the sensation.

        “You said they hurt before the calluses built up, right?” Luke asked, still holding Mikey’s fingers to her lips.

        “Yeah, but that’s just a part of playing guitar,” Mikey shrugged. “You can’t get good unless it hurts a little.”

        “Well,” Luke told her, pressing another kiss to Mikey’s fingers every few words, “these are for all the times it hurt.”

 

        Mikey kept holding Luke’s hand, and Luke kept holding hers back. They were holding hands when they walked into school one morning and each got a sense of deja vu. People were looking at them, even more than usual. Luke hadn’t gotten these kinds of looks since just after Olivia Lee’s party, and even those held slightly less contempt than these. Luke clutched Mikey’s hand so tightly that the now blue-haired girl thought she might lose circulation in that hand.

        “Mikey, what happened?” Luke whispered, her eyes darting around nervously.

        Mikey frowned and opened her mouth to say that she didn’t know, but when she glanced at Luke’s locker she let out a pained groan. “Those  _ assholes _ .”

        Splayed across the whole row of lockers where large printed photos of naked girls from what must have been amateur porn sites, with Mikey’s and Luke’s faces in place of theirs. Some of the girls sported witch’s hats or had rude statements scrawled across them.

        “I  _ hate _ them,” Luke said lowly, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood.

        “I’m gonna kill them,” Mikey promised. “We’ll call Ash and Cal. We’ll find some more hexes to cast.”

        “No,” Luke shook her head. “The administration has to have seen this. Last time it was just my word against theirs and no one would have cared. They’ve got to do something this time, right? This is literal pornography all over the hallway. They can’t just ignore it, can they?”

        “Maybe,” Mikey agreed, sounding doubtful. “We’ll see, okay?”

 

        It was in their first class of the day that Mikey and Luke both got call slips to the office. Luke sent Mikey a triumphant look, as if to say “See? They’re doing something.” When they walked into the principal’s office he looked unhappy and Luke grew hopeful that he was as outraged about the doctored photos as she was.

        “Would you two care to explain these pictures to me?” he asked as soon as they’d sat down.

        “We were hoping you would want to discuss them, sir,” Luke told him, glancing at the pile of crinkled pictures on his desk.

        “Look, I don’t know what made you decide to put pictures of yourselves like  _ this _ all over the school but it is not the kind of ‘art project’ we want to support here,” he frowned.

        “A-art project?” Luke asked, her hope vanishing in an instant.

        “You think we did this ourselves?” Mikey demanded, fuming. “You seriously think  _ we _ did this?”

        “Who else would want to spread...  _ This _ kind of thing around?” he asked, looking disdainfully at the photos on his desk.

        “How about Brett Anthony?” Mikey asked, narrowing her eyes. “How about anyone on the football team, or anyone associated with them. They hate us. Of course it was one of them.”

        “Well, I don’t believe we have any evidence to make those kinds of claims against those boys,” the principal argued. “Until then I don’t think there’s much we can do.”

        “You’re not going to bring Brett in for questioning? Call his dad or something?” Mikey demanded. “He’s out there plastering the school with revenge porn and he doesn’t even get a slap on the wrist for it?”

        “Mikey,” Luke said softly, her voice wavering.

        “Look girls,” the principal reasoned, “Friday is the last game of the season. I’m sorry but I can’t be pulling our boys out of class or out of their practice time to question them about some prank. We want this school to be a safe space for everyone, but there isn’t anything I can do for you right now if all that’s happened is some boys being boys. If anything more happens in a few weeks, once football season is over, you girls be sure to come back in here and tell me, okay?”

        “For sure,” Mikey sneered, standing up and pulling Luke behind her by the hand. Mikey kept pulling her until they were safely in an empty hallway before she started reeling. “ _ Fuck _ him.  _ Fuck _ Brett Anthony. Fuck his mom for giving birth to him. Fuck everyone he’s ever met for not punching him in his stupid face. Fuck everyone.”

        “What happened to ‘give no fucks’?” Luke asked weakly, her face despondent.

        “I’m tired of giving no fucks,” Mikey growled. “We tried the honest school administration route and that did fuck all for us. You ready to ask the universe for some help?”

        “Yeah,” Luke nodded. “He deserves it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for being lovely and leaving comments/kudos, or just for reading this!  
> Thanks! <3


	7. Cyprus

**Cyprus:** The oil and incense may be used in spells of revenge

        “Fuck  _ yes _ !” Ash exclaimed the second she stepped through the door of Mikey’s house. “We’re finally a coven! I knew Mikey would give in eventually.”

        “We’re not a coven,” Mikey grumbled. “We’re just doing some hexing. Shut up, or I’ll make you leave.”

        “Fine,” Ash held up her hands in surrender. As soon as Mikey had walked past her though, she leaned over to Luke and Cal to whisper, “We’re totally a coven now.”

        “Not a coven,” Mikey shouted from the kitchen and the other girls laughed. “You guys are making it sound like I’m hosting cult meetings at my house or something. It’s just a little black magic.”

        “Not black, really,” Ash told her, following her into the kitchen. “It’s for the greater good, and we’re still calling on the Mother. Not, like, Satan or something.”

        “Aren’t hexes dark?” Luke asked, perching on top of the kitchen counter.

        “Not as long as we aren’t calling on demons to help us out,” Ash shrugged. “That’s when it gets dangerous. You still shouldn’t do too many hexes because they aren’t really a positive energy, but the ones we’re doing are using white magic so they’re way safer. It’s like the pentagram thing.”

        “What pentagram thing?” Luke asked, looking to Mikey for an explanation.

        “You know how people always think of pentagrams as Satan worship?” Mikey asked, looking up from where she was flipping through her spell notebook. Luke nodded, and she continued. “But that’s not what they are. They _can_ be, if they’re inverted and they point down, but normal north-facing ones aren’t about that. They just represent a connection with all things - all the good things.”

        “A hex can be good or bad,” Ash explained. “It just depends on how you use it.”

        “Anything can be good or bad,” Cal added. “There isn’t much that’s strictly one way or the other.”

        “There’s good and bad in all of us,” Mikey tapped her fingers against Luke’s knee. “Some people just have a little more good in them.”

        “The last game of the season’s tomorrow night, isn’t it?” Cal asked, looking through the box of candles and herbs that Mikey had brought out.

        “Yeah,” Luke nodded. “That’s why the school wouldn’t do anything to get the team in trouble. How’d you know?”

        “Cal plays on the soccer team at St. Ben’s,” Ash explained, leaning over to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek. “She always knows when all the games are.”

        “We should fuck with his playing,” Cal suggested. “There’s always scouts at the last game of the season, especially for the seniors. If he fucks up at this game it might knock him down a few pegs.”

        “Do you have any spells for that?” Luke asked, turning hopefully to Mikey.

        “Not specifically,” Mikey shrugged. “But we can use a standard revenge spell for reference and write our own words to make it fit the situation.”

        “A graveyard dust spell,” Ash suggested. “It’ll make him sluggish.”

        “What’s graveyard dust?” Luke asked, her face twisted in trepidation.

        “It’s nothing gross, don’t worry,” Ash told her. “You can use mullein powder, patchouli powder, or dirt from a graveyard. Luckily, there’s a graveyard, like, five minutes from here.”

        “Isn’t it closed by now?” Luke asked, frowning. “My mom will kill me if I get arrested for sneaking into a cemetery in the middle of the night.”

        “That’s okay,” Cal said, sending Ash a quick wink. “Ash and I will go.”

        “Yeah,” Ash grinned. “We go there all the time and we’ve never gotten caught before.”

        “Are you sure you don’t need Luke and I to go with you?” Mikey asked with a smirk.

        “Uh, no,” Ash shook her head. “We’ll be fine. You two stay here and work on the spell. We’ll be back in, like, twenty minutes tops. You don’t need this bowl, do you?”

        When Mikey shook her head Ash grabbed a metal bowl off of the counter and drug a giggling Cal out to her car in the dark.

        “They’ve fucked in that cemetery, haven’t they?” Luke asked once they heard the car drive off.

        “Definitely,” Mikey nodded. “They’re into some weird shit.”

        “Gross,” Luke said fondly, joining Mikey at the kitchen table. “So how do we write a spell?”

        “It’s all about putting your intentions into it,” Mikey explained. “You’ve got to make it clear if you want any of it to happen. And it doesn’t necessarily have to rhyme, but I think that helps. It’s nicer to say, anyway, and I think it makes it neater. Shows you mean business.”

        “So what?” Luke asked, “Like,  _ Fumble, fumble, fall and tumble _ ?”

        “Yeah!” Mikey said, her eyes lighting up. “It’s a little Macbeth-y, but it works. I like it.”

        She wrote it out on a page of her notebook.

        “We should make the intention clear,” Mikey said. “What do we want him to do?”

        “ _ Make him drop the ball _ ,” Luke said, and Mikey wrote it down. “Um,  _ His biggest game _ ,” she recited, waiting for Mikey to add it, “ _ is days away. Make him lose it all _ .”

        “ _ Yes! _ ” Mikey grinned. “That’s perfect. We’ll repeat that a few times and add a ‘ _ So mote it be _ ’ and it should work fine. This is really the first time you’ve written a spell?”

        “Yeah,” Luke shrugged, blushing. “I used to write poems a lot when I was a kid, I dunno.”

        “You’re good at it,” Mikey smiled. “You should keep writing spells. Or just poems. Anything. It’d be a shame not to use that skill. I’m shit with words.”

        “I bet you’re really good,” Luke told her.

        “Nah,” Mikey shook her head. “I’m awful. I wanna read some of your poems, though.”

        “I don’t think I’ve written one that wasn’t about my stuffed animals or, like, fairies or something like that,” Luke laughed. “But I’ve got all my old notebooks in a box in the back of my closet and you’re free to go through them if you really want to.”

“Of course I want to,” Mikey said, her face soft. “I’d read anything you wrote.”

_         I want to write about you, _ Luke thought, but didn’t say.

        Not yet.

        “Dork,” she said instead. Mikey’s expression didn’t get any less fond. If anything it got even softer as the corners of her lips curled further up.

        “Got the dirt,” Ash sang as she burst into the house minutes later without so much as pausing at the front door. “Did you two fuck while we were out?”

        “ _ No _ ,” Mikey growled. Cal clapped a hand across a choking Luke’s back while Ash scooped up and read the spell they had written.

        “This is perfect,” she grinned. “Did you ask Luke which element she wants to be?”

        “Oh, shit. No, I forgot,” Mikey shook her head sheepishly.

        “Because you were fucking?” Ash supplied.

        “ _ No _ ,” Mikey repeated. “Jesus. What happened to ‘no swearing’?”

        “That’s when I’m working,” Ash shrugged. “This is weekend, off-the-clock Ash.”

        “Off-the-clock Ash is way more fun,” Cal said, wiggling her thick black eyebrows. “But you do look really hot behind that desk.”

        “I know you love a working woman,” Ash giggled, tugging Cal in by the neck.

        “No fucking in my kitchen,” Mikey reprimanded, forcing them apart. “Can we please get on with the spell?”

        “Right, yeah,” Ash nodded. “Where were we? The elements. Yes. You know about the elements, right? You gotta have each one represented to make a spell strong. A coven can work in any number of witches but certain numbers are stronger than others and four is a good one because you can have a witch to represent each element and each direction. Preferably you choose one that you feel more connected to.”

        “What’s the difference between each one?” Luke asked.

        “Earth is the element of the North,” Ash explained. “It represents all aspects of life, and it’s nurturing and stable.”

        “Air is the East,” Cal said. “It’s all about wisdom and knowledge and powers of the mind.”

        “Fire is South,” Mikey said. “It represents passion and strong will. It can create or destroy.”

        “And Water is West,” Ash finished. “It’s healing, purification and emotion.”

        “I’m guessing you guys are Earth, Air and Fire?” Luke asked. The other girls nodded. “I can be Water. I like that.”

        “It suits you,” Mikey smiled. “C’mon and we can start a circle in the back.”

        The girls gathered up all of their supplies - a red candle, the rest of Brett’s gray hoodie, Ash’s graveyard dirt and a box of matches - and gathered in a circle around an old firepit in Mikey’s backyard. Mikey took the jacket and bundled it up between the stones in the pit while Ash scattered dirt over and around it.

        “Alright,” Mikey said once they’d finished. She took Luke’s hand in hers and the four of them joined hands around the firepit. “Ready.”

        “ _ We call upon the elements of the North, guardians of the earth _ ,” Ash said calmly, her eyes closed and her head tilted up towards the sky. “ _ We bid you welcome, enter our circle. _ ”

        “ _ We call upon the elements of the East _ ,” Cal continued, matching Ash’s stance in the murky darkness, “ _ guardians of the air. We bid you welcome, enter our circle. _ ”

        “ _ We call upon the elements of the South, _ ” Mikey recited, “ _ guardians of fire. We bid you welcome, enter our circle. _ ”

        “ _ We call upon the elements of the West, guardians of water _ ,” Luke said, a little hesitantly. “ _ We bid you welcome, enter our circle. _ ”

        “With the guardians of the elements watching over me, I cast this circle. No harmful being can enter. The circle is cast,” Ash said, taking in a deep breath and seeming to relax. “Alright, now concentrate. Try and picture the game tomorrow and imagine what it’ll look like when he messes up and how it will feel.”

        Luke could see behind her eyes the bright stadium lights and the vibrant green of the over-watered field, feel the cold air that made the fans bundle up in school-color scarves and made their cheeks an excited pink. She could feel the heightened energy of the team, counting on their star player to bring home the game for them all. She could smell the sweat and grass and reheated hotdogs at the concession booth at the side of the field. She could see the ball soaring through the air and she could hear the breath that every onlooker took in as it flew straight towards Brett Anthony in his pristine white jersey. He stretched out his hands and the ball seemed to move in slow motion as it slid perfectly into the bed of his fingers and he was off, clutching the ball to his chest and running towards the goal post. But he barely made it one full step before his foot caught on the ground and he went sailing forward, throwing his arms out to catch himself and letting the ball fall gently to the ground. She pictured the moment he’d realize what he had done, the look of horror on his face and the looks of shock on his teammate’s faces that would quickly turn to anger. Brett Anthony, tripping over nothing and practically handing the ball over to the other team.

        “Feel all of your anger and annoyance and disgust manifesting in the football. Feel it turning hot and mad and slippery. Feel your anger moving the grass under his feet and shaking through the earth. Feel it flashing through the lights and blinding him,” Ash instructed. She pulled her hand out of Luke’s to crouch down and light the red candle with one of the matches. “ _ Fumble, fumble, fall and tumble; Make him drop the ball. His biggest game is days away, make him lose it all. _ ” She dropped the still lit match unto the hoodie and stood up.

        Cal repeated the spell, lighting her own match and dropping it onto the fabric. In the flickering candle light she looked dark and dangerous, her brown eyes burning. The matches piled up on the fabric and began to scorch it, making smoke spiral up towards the stars without a real flame forming. Mikey added her match to the effort as she recited the hex and a small flicker of orange appeared in the folds of the jacket.

        “ _ Fumble, fumble, fall and tumble, _ ” Luke said, feeling silly until she glanced around and saw the serious looks on the other girls’ faces. “ _ Make him drop the ball. His biggest game is days away, make him lose it all. _ ”

        They repeated it once more all together as the fire began to crackle before Ash tore a page from Mikey’s notebook and pulled a pen from her back pocket and handed both to Luke.

        “Write his name on that and write three X’s over it, then fold it up three times, okay?” Ash told her. While Luke did that the curly-haired girl ran inside and returned with her own spellbook and a length of black yarn. “Tie this around it.”

        “Okay,” Luke tied a double knot tight enough to hold the paper securely.

        “Now hold it over your head and read this out loud three times,” Ash held the book open to a spell and held it so that Luke could make out the words in the faint light of the fire.

        “ _ Starting now I will be protected from you, this magic spell I will do, _ ” Luke read, starting to feel the same silliness creeping up like the blush on her cheeks until she paused to see the eager looks on Ash, Cal and especially Mikey’s faces. “ _ With this spell I shall bind thee, from now on you will let me be. I as of now am protected from your harm, I seal this hex with my charm. It is you that will suffer and cry out in pain. It is you that will suffer and writhe in pain. _ ”

        When she had finished the third recitation, Ash flipped the page and held out the next part of the spell. “Drop it on the ground and stomp on it nine times, then read this.”

        Luke stepped hesitantly on the paper at first but after a few times she started to picture the paper as Brett himself and found herself putting more force into the movement.

        “ _ From this moment, pain you shall feel. I have spoken these words, words that are real. I have spoken these words, so mote it be! _ ”

       Her words hung in the air for a few seconds, echoing through the trees and making the candle’s flame dance wildly back and forth. There was a great heavy silence as her voice finally faded out, broken by Ash’s delighted giggling. Luke looked up to see all three girls watching her with wide smiles and she began to laugh along with them.

       “How do you feel?” Mikey asked, her lips close to Luke’s ear.

       “Better,” Luke said, feeling giddy, as though the walls around her had been blown away, leaving her heart free to the endless night sky. “I feel better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter was posted so late in the day! There's just one chapter left which I'll post tomorrow (once I finish writing the last paragraph). All of the spells used in this fic were taken either from books I have or from different witchcraft websites, except for the one in this chapter that Luke writes.  
> Anyway, thank you for reading this and for leaving comments/kudos! It makes me so happy to see that people are liking this fic! <3


	8. Daisy

**Daisy** : Decorated with and worn to bring happiness, luck and blessings. Woven into hair to attract one’s beloved.

       Mikey and Luke had agreed to go to the football game the next night, but Ash and Cal had a mandatory weekly dinner with Cal’s parents that Ash told them she had to attend or they’d ban her from dating their daughter. When Luke and Mikey got there the stands were already packed and the air was freezing. Luke was shivering in her light sweater and wished that she’d brought a thicker jacket.

       “Here,” Mikey said, starting to pull off her old denim jacket.

       “No,” Luke frowned, pulling the ends of Mikey’s jacket tighter around the blue-haired girl and buttoning a few of the silver buttons. “You’ve only got a t-shirt on under there; you’ll freeze. I’ve got a sweater; I’m fine.”

       “Luke,” Mikey chastised. “You’re shivering. Just let me be a good girlfriend and give you my jacket.”

       “Girlfriend?” Luke asked, a small smile playing at her lips.

       “Um, yeah,” Mikey nodded, her face turning resolute. “Yes. Girlfriend. That’s what I am. What we are. If you want, I mean.”

       “Yeah,” Luke nodded, letting her smile grow. “Girlfriends. I’m still not taking your jacket, though.”

       “Well, as your  _ girlfriend _ I am very worried about your well-being,” Mikey said, feigning sternness. “You’re gonna fucking freeze out here.”

       “Fine,” Luke groaned. “But I’m not taking your jacket. I’ve probably got one in my locker. I’ll run and grab it if it’ll shut you up.”

       “Yes please,” Mikey said sweetly. “I can go with you if you want.”

       “That’s fine,” Luke told her, already stepping towards the main buildings of the school. “Try and find some seats and I’ll find you in a minute.”

       “Just text me if you don’t see me anywhere,” Mikey called after her and Luke held a thumb up over her shoulder. She trudged to her locker, humming lightly under her breath and thinking about the blue-haired girl.

_ My girlfriend _ , Luke thought, testing out the word in her head.  _ My girlfriend, Mikey Clifford _ .

       It felt strange, but at the same time it didn’t. It was strange that it didn’t feel strange. Growing up she had never planned to call another girl her girlfriend, or to have wanted to kiss another girl as badly as she wanted to kiss Mikey. But something about Mikey just made sense, like the answer to a question she didn’t know she needed to ask. Something about her and Mikey just went together naturally, like the moon and sun pulling each other across the sky, creating beautiful magical shapes when they finally met. She couldn’t really say that she’d never liked a girl before Mikey because there had never been  _ any _ one before Mikey, not really. No matter what, it was Mikey from the start.

       Luke was just outside of the field, an old black jacket that might have been Mikey’s at one point slung across her shoulders when she heard Brett call out behind her.

       “How’s your  _ girlfriend _ ?” he asked, voice dripping with contempt at the last word, so different from the way Mikey’s lips had curved lovingly around it. Two of his teammates were snickering behind him and Luke took a deep breath, setting her jaw in a way that she’d seen Mikey do in the halls at school.

       “She’s good,” Luke said, her tone friendly. “I’d ask how  _ your _ consorts were, but the last I heard was ‘unsatisfied.’”

       The smirk dripped off of his lips but she kept her mild look, sending him and his friends a curt nod before continuing back to the stands.

       “Bitch,” she heard him mutter as she walked away, but it didn’t bother her. She was walking back to Mikey and nothing he could say would make that prospect any less bright.

 

       The game looked just as Luke had imagined, even when viewed from under the bleachers as she and Mikey were. The marching band played loudly and the cheerleaders flew through the air with practiced leaps and frozen smiles. Mikey’s hand was held warmly in Luke’s, their fingers sweaty despite the cold air around them. They peered between the legs of the people in the stands above them and watched the players move across the field.

       Their team had moved ahead quickly in the first half of the game, but the other team was slowly gaining on them. Mikey was texting Ash and Cal updates every time the score changed and the other girls sent back strings of emojis relaying their excitement.

       This was the moment of their revenge, the moment that Brett Anthony might finally get what had been coming for him for years. But Luke wondered if that moment had already happened the night before.

       “Mikey,” Luke said softly, glancing at the boys huddled together on the field.

       “Yeah?” Mikey asked, looking up from her phone.

       “Do you wanna go?”

       “Right now?” Mikey frowned, looking concerned. “We’ll miss the end of the game, are you sure?”

       “Yeah,” Luke nodded. “I’d rather just go back to your house.”

       “Okay,” Mikey agreed. “I just thought you wanted to be here to see if the spell worked.”

       “I don’t think I need to,” Luke shrugged. “I think it already worked, even if Brett plays perfectly tonight. I just don’t care anymore, you know? I just care about you.”

       “Yeah,” Mikey nodded, smiling. “Okay, yeah. C’mon.”

       Mikey held her hand a little tighter and pulled her back to the parking lot which was packed with cars but completely empty of people. Mikey lead her through the rows of cars, her pale face glowing in the light of the full moon above them and the sounds of the crowd wafting through the air. Mikey brought her up against the side of her beat-up red car and didn’t let go of her hand so Luke didn’t stop looking at her. Luke thought that Mikey should always be bathed in moonlight, every day forever. It made her skin look even more like peachy white marble and it made her eyes look even bigger and even brighter.

       When Mikey’s eyes found hers Luke nodded and suddenly they were kissing, pressed against Mikey’s car with a football game going on just a few hundred feet away from them and the moon watching them fondly from two hundred thirty-eight thousand nine hundred miles above their heads. Mikey’s fingers tangled in the hair at the base of Luke’s neck and she tugged the taller girl down so that she didn’t have to stretch quite as far up to kiss her. Luke could feel in the uncoordinated movements of Mikey’s lips that it was the blue-haired girl’s first kiss, but that only made it sweeter. When they finally pulled away Luke let her eyes flutter open to see the soft lavender of Mikey’s eyelids, her long dark eyelashes still laying heavily against her cheeks.

       “C’mon,” Luke whispered against the shorter girl’s temple. “Let’s go home.”

       “But,” Mikey whined, her eyes finally opening to accompany the pout on her lips, “ _ work _ . You can’t just kiss me then make me drive. Isn’t there that thing about not operating heavy machinery?”

       “I’m pretty sure that’s a drug warning,” Luke laughed. “Kissing isn’t a drug.”

       “With you it may as well be,” Mikey said softly and Luke wasn’t sure if she’d meant to say it out loud.

       “Gimme your keys and I’ll drive,” Luke offered, opening the passenger side door and taking the keys from Mikey. As soon as she started up the car Mikey was laying her head in her lap, nudging against her thigh and whining softly in the back of her throat. “You’re like a fucking cat.”

       “Shut up,” Mikey grumbled, grabbing Luke’s free hand and pulling it into her hair. “Pet me.”

       “If I’d known one kiss would make you this needy I never would have kissed you,” Luke said, tangling her fingers in Mikey’s hair and scratching her nails lightly against her scalp, getting only a purr-like hum in response.

       “Mikey,” she whispered once she’d turned off the engine, minutes later. “We’re here.”

       “Hm?” Mikey sat up and rubbed at her eyes, making her makeup smear all the way up to her temple.

       “C’mon,” Luke smiled, unbuckling both of their seat belts and pulling the half-asleep girl all the way back to her own room, exchanging an amused look with Mikey’s mom when she passed the kitchen.

       She dropped the sluggish girl onto her bed but was pulled down after her when Mikey refused to let go of her. Luke let out a small “oof” as she hit the bed and tried to roll onto her back but Mikey snaked her arms around her waist and pulled her closer before she could move more than an inch away.

       “C’mere,” Mikey murmured, pressing her face into Luke’s wavy blonde hair.

       “Whaduyou mean ‘c’mere’? I’m right next to you,” Luke smiled, turning her head so that her nose drug lightly across Mikey’s cheek.

       “You know what I mean,” Mikey grumbled, winding a strand of Luke’s hair around her fingers and tugging lightly. “Come _ here _ . Please.”

       Luke complied, tilting her head just enough to bring their lips together again. Mikey hummed happily into the kiss, her whole body seeming to lose the constant buzzing energy that seemed to always be vibrating just under her skin as she melted back into the bed. Luke coaxed Mikey’s lips open just enough to slip her tongue into the other girl’s mouth, all of her movements sure but soft enough to give Mikey time to get used to each one.

       Luke liked kissing Mikey. It was different than kissing Brett had been, and she liked it. Rather than filling every empty part of her, kissing Mikey felt like her empty parts were reaching out to meet Mikey’s, fitting together and making themselves whole in their own way.

       “I’ve wanted to do this since I was six years old,” Mikey whispered, her breath a warm tickling sensation against Luke’s spit-slick lips.

       “Really?” Luke asked, brushing her thumb over the soft skin right behind Mikey’s ear. Why had she never noticed how soft the skin behind someone’s ear could be?

       “Yeah,” Mikey nodded earnestly, pressing another kiss against Luke’s lips like she wasn’t sure she’d be able to. “I don’t know if I knew it at the time, but I definitely did. I always did.”

       “I think I did, too,” Luke told her, and realized that it was true. “I don’t think I even knew until right now, but I think I always liked you. I just didn’t understand what it meant and I always thought it was either jealousy or some kind of weird morbid fascination with you.”

       “What did you think you were jealous of?” Mikey snorted. “My social leprosy? My double chin?”

       “Are you kidding?” Luke asked, her eyes flicking down Mikey’s body hungrily. “You’re fucking beautiful. I think I’ve had, like, three separate sexuality crisises in the past few months about your thighs alone. You’re, like, small. But you’re curvy, you know? Soft.”

       “So are you,” Mikey argued.

       “No I’m not,” Luke shook her head. “It’s different. I’m wide, in some spots, but I’m tall. It’s not cute and curvy, like on you. I’m just big.”

       “It  _ is _ cute,” Mikey frowned, pushing Luke back into the bed. “You’re  _ so _ cute. You’re soft but you look so strong, with your shoulders and your thighs. You look like you could pick me up if you wanted, and throw me around. That’d be fun - promise you’ll try and pick me up some time?”

       Luke nodded, smiling despite herself.

       “I haven’t had a piggy-back ride since I was a kid. You’re gonna give me one tomorrow, okay? Anyway, you’re just, like, shit. You’re so pretty and tall and you feel safe and warm and you’ve got the cutest little tummy - not like mine, mine’s-”

       “Great,” Luke interrupted, bringing her hand up to brush over Mikey’s stomach. “You’re tummy’s great. I love your tummy. Do you know how much time I’ve spent staring at your stomach like a total creep? It’s the cutest.”

       “Fine,” Mikey conceded. “We’re tied for cutest tummy. But I haven’t even gotten to your legs (they’re so fucking  _ long _ , I swear) or your  _ boobs _ . Shit Luke, I spent all of eighth grade trying so fucking  _ hard _ not to stare at your chest for every second of every day at school. I think I failed algebra that year because my poor pubescent heart just couldn’t take it. Stop fucking laughing, okay? It was a tragedy! My parents made me get a tutor and they kept asking why I was getting such a shit grade. I kept blaming the teacher because I couldn’t exactly tell them it was Luke Hemmings’ boobs that had me so distracted in class.”

       “I’m sorry that my boobs had you so flustered,” Luke said, laughter still evident in her voice, and she pressed an apologetic kiss to Mikey’s shoulder.

       “You should be,” Mikey huffed. “Tomorrow after my piggy-back ride you’re going to personally explain to my parents why it was your fault I failed eighth grade math.”

       “Sure,” Luke nodded, pressing a kiss to the hollow of Mikey’s throat. “You’ve got a nice neck, you know that? It’s soft, and nice.”

       “Thanks,” Mikey said, still looking put out for the sake of her eighth grade self. “You’re not even sorry, are you?”

       “Nope,” Luke shook her head, pressing a kiss to the underside of Mikey’s jaw. “You’re whole face is nice. Your cheeks are so soft, I wanna bite them.”

       “Good thing cannibalism’s illegal,” Mikey said, fighting a smile.

       “And you’ve got such a cute little chin,” Luke continued, pressing a kiss there, too. “It’s pointy. I like it. I like your little cherry nose, too.” She kissed the tip of Mikey’s nose.

       “I like your nose, too,” Mikey said, giving up of her feigned annoyance. “Like a little ski slope.”

       Mikey pressed a kiss to Luke’s nose and Luke rolled them over again so that she was laying over Mikey again.

       “And your  _ lips _ , I swear I wouldn’t believe they were naturally that red if I hadn’t known you since we were six,” Luke pressed a bruising kiss against Mikey’s lips and the blue haired girl pulled back.

       “Wait wait wait,” Mikey said, sitting up and making Luke hover beside her worryingly.

       “I’m sorry,” Luke rushed to say. “Did I do something wrong? Was it too fast?”

       “What?” Mikey asked, feeling around underneath herself on the bed. “No, of course not. You’re fine. Better than fine, I just-”

       She pulled a stuffed black cat out from behind her back and held it up triumphantly.

       “ _ There _ . When we rolled over I ended up on top of Kiki and I didn’t want her to suffocate.”

       “You know she’s not a real cat, right?” Luke teased. “She doesn’t need to breathe.”

       “It’s still probably uncomfortable to have too assholes making out on top of you,” Mikey reasoned, setting the cat so that she was sitting on her bedside table, facing them. “Okay, now I’m good.”

       “You want to kiss with her watching?” Luke asked, grinning wryly. “Isn’t she a little young?”

       “For what?” Mikey asked, bringing Luke back down for a quick kiss. “There’s nothing dirty about this.”

       And she was right. Luke was sure that no matter where Mikey touched her it would never feel dirty.

 

       They didn’t have sex that night, or even go further than kissing, because they didn’t need to. Either would have been happy to go as far as the other wanted to, but all they wanted to do was be together, exchanging kisses and soft touches until they fell asleep tangled together with Kiki clutched tightly between them in Mikey’s arms. They were still like that in the morning when Cal and Ash came barging in, flinging themselves on top of a sleeping Luke and Mikey and laughing as they were thrown roughly to the floor.

       The four of them kept casting spells together, no matter how many times Mikey refused to admit that they were a coven, but they hadn’t cast a hex since the night before the football game. Instead, they focused their energy on glamour spells, and spells to help the garden that Luke and and Mikey had started in Mikey’s backyard. They did prosperity spells to help Ash’s job at the New Age store, and focus spells to help Cal study for finals at the end of the year. They also practiced spells to help anxiety and depression that didn’t fix everything, but were a way to show support for each other when they needed it.

       Ash finally got her double date when the couples spent prom night together in a fluorescent-lit chain diner, sharing milkshakes and orders of french fries while their classmates danced and snuck sips of booze in a ritzy hotel ballroom across town. Luke and Mikey pelted Cal and Ash with packets of sugar every time their kissing got too heated to be appropriate in their current setting, but the two girls got their revenge in the parking lot by pulling out cans of whipped cream that they’d stolen from inside. The second that Luke leaned down to press a sweet kiss against Mikey’s lips they were both sprayed on either side by a cackling Ash and Cal. Before long the four of them were running wildly through the parking lot, shrieking over the music that poured through the speakers in Mikey’s car. All the while the full moon watched over them, a shadow that looked almost like a smile stretched across her surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of Heaven Can't Help A Teenage Witch! Hopefully you've enjoyed it and you aren't too disappointed not to get a detailed look into Brett Anthony's comeuppance, but you can assume that it did come. I didn't want him to get off scot-free but I also wanted Mikey and Luke to move on from it and not be too caught up in revenge when they can just kind of live their lives, you know?  
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading this and for the comments/kudos! Here's a link to the song I used for the title of this fic:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMJPjgxCGaI  
> Thank you! <3 <3


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